Krait book 12a A busy year at Prince Peak
by slytherinsal
Summary: Severus and Krait worry about Jade in Durmstrang, Silvina Brewer begs for a second chance and learns some lessons, not all racists are human and on top of this schoolwork.  Never a dull moment for the pupils and staff at Prince Peak!
1. Chapter 1

_Very short, only 15 chapters, sorry, so much was going on elsewhere! _

**Chapter 1**

Silvina Brewer had written an impassioned plea to Severus at the end of the Summer term, begging him to forgive her for her bad behaviour and swearing that now she understood a little more about what elves had been through; that her home tutor had arranged for her to experience the Imperius Curse sanctioned by the aurors' office so she got some idea, and that she didn't want to grow up ignorant like her brothers and parents because although her tutor kept her up with school work she wanted to be back at school. She declared herself ready to beg his pardon, and that of Vya the elf she had bullied, and Flo Visick whom she had nearly killed.

Severus was surprised by the letter; Silvina had never joined anything and never seemed to take any delight in the company of others. He wondered if it were partly that she missed the facilities of a well provided school rather than comrades; and as Silvina was never prepared to admit she was in the wrong he wondered that she should be so ready to apologise.

He also had a letter from Olive MacMillan, the girl's tutor.

Olive told him calmly that Silvina had the most awful parents and siblings – especially the younger sister who was enacting cruel and vicious pranks on her sister for losing the chance of her own education at a centre of academic excellence. Olive wrote too that Silvina had learned much from Prince Peak but only the absence from its calm environs had made the child realise how much she had learned. She was herself prepared to escort the girl back to school if Professor Snape would have her; as it seemed likely that her parents would likely not agree; and though she realised that would mean the child would not be paid for, she felt that if the Professor could find enough for a scholarship the protection of a stable background would stop Silvina from growing up into a nasty little deatheater type, embittered and loveless.

Severus snorted and wrote back to Madam MacMillan that he disliked having his strings jerked by cunning females who knew how to play him and that he would think about it.

And he asked Vya if she would be prepared to go in person to receive an apology and take his acceptance of Silvina should she manage it.

"Please Professor, I'm not sure I ever want to see her again" said Vya "She's nasty!"

Severus passed the little girl the human child's letter.

"Read that and think if you will about how you felt towards your previous owners, feeling pushed about and not understanding all the rules when foreigners visited" he said "Suppose yourself to have been suddenly the focus of attention of that nasty creature we took you off; wondering how to stop him hurting you too much. It's not the same; Silvina was never in any physical danger from me, but I swear she had as little idea how to interact with civilised folk as many an elf has of how to be free."

Vya grunted a rather sceptical grunt.

"Would Jade want me to?" she asked.

"Jade is a great believer in giving people second chances" said Severus.

"Well, I'll go and see her; if she's all right to me I'll pass your message. If she isn't, I shan't" she said.

"That seems a fair test" said Severus serenely. It was all in Silvina's hands.

Silvina jumped when the diminutive figure of the teenage elf appeared in her bedroom.

"Professor Snape said you wanted to apologise Brewer" said Vya uncompromisingly. She thought Silvina looked ill.

"Oh!" said Silvina "Well I do!" she added "I – I guess I didn't understand an awful lot…. I certainly didn't mean to nearly kill Flo. I – I lost my temper. I'm sorry I didn't know about the imperious curse type thing; I thought it was natural for elves to do what they were told because it was all they could do."

"Then I guess you better learn to control your temper" said Vya "Or you'll end up in Azhkaban if you lose it when you're grown up. I gather you know now that we aren't naturally here for your convenience."

Silvina flushed.

"I don't know how to control my temper" she said. "I don't know anything much how to behave; only that now I've seen other people, my parents kind of make me angry when they're rude about Professor Snape….he explained a lot to me but I was feeling too upset and contrary to let myself hear it. I guess I was sore because my brothers only ever do the work they feel like at Hellibore's; but I saw their text books and dad expected me to work from them and it was BABY stuff!"

"So you do want to do the work really?" said Vya sceptically "The amount you whined about how you couldn't I'm not sure I believe that!"

"Well this time I know to ask for help if I get behind!" said Silvina angrily "Now that Madam MacMillan has said like Professor Snape said that teachers don't set irrelevant work and if it doesn't seem so that it will be later I understand that. That's why I skimped work; the stuff that seemed meaningless."

"You poor sap!" said Vya, having picked up a number of English colloquialisms from Jade "I should think it was obvious they wouldn't set it if it wasn't relevant!"

"Well, when I complained about holiday assignments being hard, my dad told me not to bother to do them because they couldn't make me!" said Silvina.

"That was rather irresponsible of him" said Vya. "I think your father has let you down somewhat. Why did he send you to Prince Peak if he did not expect you to be stretched? He could have sent you some place like Beauxbatons!"

"Because my mother went there when it was Cackle's Academy and Miss Cackle would let you off if you found things hard; the only tough teacher was Madam Hardbroom" said Silvina. "And she's gone to Hogwarts now."

Vya grinned.

"You know she's Professor Snape's aunt, don't you?" she said "Well, approximately? And she's reckoned a soft touch to the Hogwarts people; I know because half of the Professor's children are at Hogwarts, and young Lilith is going there a couple of years early and they were teasing her that Great Auntie Connie is a soft touch compared to their dad."

"Two years EARLY? Why?"

Vya shrugged.

"Because she already talks to NEWT level people on a par with them and needs to have a proper education I guess. Lilith makes my eyes glaze over when she gets onto academic subjects. Look here, Brewer!" she added "If Professor Snape lets you back you've got to be civil to people; and I should think you ought to join in more with out of school activities so you know how people behave; it's how I've been learning how free people ought to be you know; because I don't know how it works any more than you do but I watch and copy!"

"Is that how to do it? How do I control my temper though?"

"Well when I was a slave it made me angry that we could be hurt and I had to control that because if I didn't I would have to bang my head on the ground until I knocked myself unconscious or put my hands in the fire or something like that" said Vya dryly "So I had a rather good incentive not to be angry. I used to divert my angry thoughts by thinking about beautiful things; the lovely things the masters owned that I liked to look at, like the paintings and the ornate furniture; or the beautiful scenery near the castle; and the wonderful tune on the musical box the master had. I should think if you asked Professor Snape he'd help you come up with a chant or piece of music to use deliberately to calm you; and if you CAN'T control yourself then he'll have to tie it to a compulsion that one of us can hum or whistle to make you be calm until it gets to be habit. And a sight better compulsion than driving needles into your hands I can tell you!"

Silvina gasped.

"Vya have you had to do that?"

"Yes" said Vya quietly.

"My sister enchanted my pincusion to attack me" said Silvina "And she's only a kid so it didn't do it very well, but it was bad enough. And she says if I retaliate or complain she'll remind our parents that Professor Snape called me a bully and say I'm bullying her. I – I guess I feel a bit helpless a bit like you. Especially as Mr Moody put the Imperious Curse on me so I could see what it was like."

"Is he allowed to?" asked Vya.

"Apparently if I consent as he's an auror" said Silvina "I didn't like it one bit. He – he told me to think of Professor Snape and for everything I resented I was to slap myself. It – it was a fairly graphic demonstration."

"Yeah; I guess it must have been" said Vya. "That's what it's like being an elf – unless you've had the curse broken. Even for free elves, 'cept in England now because there are people who did a big ritual – and Professor Snape and all his family were part of it – to break the curse. Trouble is" she gave a lopsided grin "It doesn't work against poisonous little sisters."

Silvina managed half a grin back.

"If I can go back to school Celestina wouldn't be sore at me any more."

"It ain't that easy" said Vya "Look, you KNOW don't you, that even if Professor Snape tells your parents he'd have you back they're too miffed at him to send you?"

Silvina paled.

"Oh! But Madam MacMillan said if I wrote and told him how I understood more now…."

"Oh he'll have you back; but only if you're prepared to run away and ask his protection – like you're entitled – and you'd have to be a free student on charity like me" said Vya.

Silvina stared; flushing.

"That's blunt" she said in a small voice. "I – I don't think I can bear it at home much longer; Madam Mac Millan makes it almost bearable but… with the long holidays…" she burst into tears.

Vya rolled her eyes. Professor Snape had trusted her to sort it out; really this poor sap was as much a slave to her parents' stupidity as many an elf of only ordinarily crass owners!

"All right Silvina; you'd better pack" she said "And I'll take you back with me. I suppose it's kidnap; you'd better leave some form of note to say you've run away."

"Can you really?" asked Silvina eagerly.

Vya shrugged.

"Elf apportation is really very powerful" she said. "It's why the spells were tied to us; so as to stop us being more powerful than the masters. Which I guess a school trained elf could well be; except that we have strengths and weaknesses like anyone. I'm never going to be a great potioneer and I don't really play quidditch and I have trouble with chanting because I have a squeaky little voice. And potioneering is the subtlest of the arts and without chanting you can't really progress beyond NEWT with any success. If I was you I'd be frank about your little sister's nastiness and I'll tell you why. If your parents call anyone in to find you, they've almost got to show them any note you write and if it shows a good reason to run, there'll be more sympathy for you asking asylum and what's more it'll alert those in authority to her being a little monster so they look out for it if she gets sent to Hogwarts. 'Cos if she's so nasty, I bet Professor Snape won't have her."

Silvina brightened.

"If I write everything she's done this last couple of days that ought to be a good start" she said.

She got out paper and a quill. Vya read unabashed over her shoulder, whistling over such pettiness as putting Silvina's sleeping hand in cold water to make her wet the bed; putting drawing pins through her shoes; putting some stinging cream in her underwear and hanging Silvina in effigy for the older girl to find when she went to bed.

"She is a nasty piece and no mistake" said Vya.

"When I started my monthlies she hid all the sanitary things" said Silvina bitterly "But I borrowed mum's wand without her noticing to use _accio_ and Celestina didn't see me do it – she'd have told – so I got them back. She sneaks too."

"Professor Snape found a book that turned a little boy at Hogwarts into a monster" said Vya "I think your sister's just a spiteful little tick, but how about you wonder if she's been cursed in your letter? That might get someone crawling all over her brain with legilimensy that might too help grownups to put her right when she DOES go to school. She's the same age as Lilith Snape; and Lilith would just DESPISE anyone who did that bullying stuff. I mean, she makes apple pie beds but I guess that's sort of normal because seniors just sigh and laugh and decide to pretend not to notice. The worst thing Lilith has ever done was to change an equation for the NEWT students – after the exam just set for them to ponder – to make it the equation for flushing the loo in some place called Gringotts. I don't understand that much Arithmancy; but I guess it was harmless."

"What did she do it for?"

"'Cos the expression on the faces of the seniors was pretty funny while they tried to puzzle it out" giggled Vya.

"Well why isn't that bullying? Is it because she's Professor Snape's daughter?"

"No, you idiot! It's because they were a bit discommoded but not harmed! If it was while they were revising for the exam it might have been bullying, but it wasn't! If – if your sister had cast a tickling enchantment on your slippers not put pins in your shoes, that would have been teasing, not bullying. It's all in the degree; and if it's going to make your victim laugh too. If it upsets the person you tease, it's tipped into being bullying; even if you didn't mean it to. Like you took offence when I said 'what did your last slave die of' which means 'say please and I might do more or less what you ask. Or at least help.' You need to grow a sense of humour, Brewer. I don't go much for japes – I reckon they waste time I could be studying – but I don't mind seeing them happen if it's not too often and is well thought out. Have you written that? Because if so I'll help you pack and then we can be away quickly."

Silvina nodded.

"They've taken Celestina to some concert; Amos Leroy the boy soprano is singing."

Vya giggled.

"HE'S at Hogwarts; and they call him the Caterwauling Crow there so I shouldn't think she's having much of a time!"

Silvina looked terrified.

"Then a better reason to leave as soon as possible; if she hated it she'll take it out on me!" she said "My uniform got dumped in my trunk un-unpacked in the loft."

"Well all we need is some extra undies then" said Vya "And we're ready."

Severus had not expected Vya to return with Silvina in tow; but the little elf quickly explained about Celestina.

Severus turned his grim visage on Silvina and she quailed.

"I'm very sorry I caused trouble, Professor" she said in a small voice "I – I want to learn how to behave properly. Er, please."

He gave an austere smile.

"It sounds as though you're making a good start. Do you place yourself in my custody then for your own protection?"

Silvina nodded.

Severus considered.

"Then I think for a while I shall ask you to stay in a relatively small part of the castle; and I'll set up the fidelius charm to hide you until I have this sorted" he said. "Just for a few days."

Silvina nodded willingly; she did not want to be found!

Silvina was greeted with more caution than enthusiasm by the permanent residents of the castle and surrounds who had already met her; but Lilith stared into her eyes and turned to the assorted elves, goblins and cured werewolves and said,

"Hey, give the girl a chance people; some people get brainwashed y'know that can be as strong as any compulsion and harder for them to break 'cos it's like chanting and built up in many layers like a many headed monster insidious and mutable like the dark arts and it's the sort of curse even muggles can manage to put on their kids that's stronger than any spell."

"We hear and obey, o best beloved of resource and sagacity" giggled Yrdl.

"Do you like Kipling?" said Lilith.

"Oh yes, I Kipple regularly" said Yrdl.

"Well let's introduce her to the 'Just so Stories' and 'Kim' and 'Jungle Book'" suggested Lilith. "And Anett will talk to you, Brewer, 'cos she's escaped from Durmstrang and has had to overcome lots of stereotype ideas she had her head filled with, 'cept at least she's got a sensible father and not a Hopeless Hellibore Headcase."

"Taaaaact" said Yrdl.

"She's nine; she doesn't have any" said Anett "Silvina, I shall be Madam Breuer in term time; a name of similar origin to your own. I am teaching herbology for the next year as Madam Devlin loathes teaching it, so she gets the chance to teach Comparative Magic; but in the holidays you may call me Anett if you can remember to be formal once term restarts. I was a star pupil of the teacher of Dark Arts – no defence against component at Durmstrang – who was training me up for Odessa. His death and the replacement of him by an unsubtle, cruel, bully of a woman opened my eyes somewhat; and Jade Snape and a part goblin contender from Hogwarts, Mortimer Bane, opened my eyes yet more. I walked about looking for the first time; and went to poke my nose into places most witches and wizards never go. I learned a lot. Do I find elves who walk tall and who speak in the first person not the third and answer as equals offensive? To my shame, yes, I do a little. I admit the fault. I have been learning here that Mimi Snape who is entering the fourth year at Hogwarts in September is a far better arithmancer than me; she's a full blood elf, adopted by Severus and daughter of his mistress Sirri. I find it easier, I confess, with those like Sirri and her brother Beloc, who have adopted forms where their heads and bodies are in better proportion; I think the proportions appeal to us as small children who ought not to be given responsibility which is one reason we find it harder, until we are used to it, to see elves as equals. And some elves are horribly subservient. And some elves suffer defects caused by the unthinking casting of jinxes on their mothers during pregnancy or cruel punishment at an early age. A baby has no self control; but a baby elf still has a compulsion to self punish when feeling scared and upset because his mother is being hurt, say. Professor Snape is a great man and has cured many such problems."

Silvina retched.

"That – but that is horrible!" she said "Though – yes, I DO resent elves looking at me straight!"

Anett smiled at her.

"You're a decent kid at bottom I'd say" she said "With some wrong ideas on top; but now you see, you have begun to think of elves as people and elf babies as babies and so you do care. You, like I, will learn to deal with the idea of all people being people. I don't even see goblins as goblins any more; but just as people. And I had to work on that too."

"You never showed it" said Yrdl, slipping her hand into Anett's.

"Good" said Anett. "I think it ill bred to show any distaste for any type of person save of their behaviour. And I have learned to feel no distaste at all but merely acceptance." She squeezed Yrdl's hand affectionately. She loved the little girl dearly!

"I will try" said Silvina.

"We'll help I guess" said Vya "And I'll take you to see Flo too after I've written to her to warn her; and then you can get the apologies out of the way and not have to do it in front of people when term starts."

"Thank you" said Silvina, only a little stiffly. It WOULD make it easier!

Odessa were quiescent; the double attack on Prince Peak and Hogwarts during the Triwizard had lost the organisation many resources; and had dented the confidence of its supporters. The Snapes retired to London to their home in Orme Court ready to attend the weddings of the year at Malfoy Manor; Lynx Black-Weasley to her Hawke Malfoy and Romulus Snape to Senagra gan Konal. Weddings at Malfoy Manor were big affairs; anyone who was anyone was seen at them, and even those who were heartily shocked by what they saw as the miscegenation of humans and goblins marrying swallowed their distaste to be seen at such events. Lucius Malfoy after all had three mistresses as well as his pure bred wife, a muggle, a goblin and some kind of blue-skinned elf; and he called them his wives. Most declared Lucius a canny politician showing support for the liberal policies of the Harry Potter government with political marriages; those who knew Lucius were aware that the blood status of his women was a matter of complete indifference to him because he loved them all dearly.

And, judging by the number of his offspring, often.

With the adopted step children and those adopted Malfoys of dubious origins, Lucius could field four quidditch teams and more with those he counted his children.

Severus, who had as many children as Lucius, counting those adopted and his wards, did not bother to mention it. Krait, growing up an orphan, yearned for children of her own; Sirri wanted babies born free; and Dione was content to stop at three, his two and the baby girl she had conceived in rape while she was no more than a child that Severus and Krait had adopted. Those he counted his children were just three quidditch teams; but so many distressed children had needed a father figure he had ended up fostering many. One of whom would be starting at Prince Peak this September; Lucy Ingate following her two older brothers. The Ingate children were hard workers; and Severus was fond of them; but it felt more like nieces and nephews. Neither Jem nor George had felt any urge to Maraud; and so were not joined to him by the Bloodpact. Severus wondered whether Lucy would be different; she was certainly the one of the family who was most drawn to potioneering, his own best love subject. Jem had worked hard to take an 'E' in Potions at NEWT this year; and was set to apply to work in the Quaestorium, not being a sufficiently high flyer to aim for five NEWTs, required for an Auror, though he had taken DADA at 'O' and two others at 'E'. Erwin, half brother of Severus' oldest adopted son Erich, had also taken four NEWTs and he and Jem planned to stick together for quaestor training. Erwin with a pass at Arithmancy and a good 'E' in ancient runes as well as his own 'O' for DADA planned to specialise in forensic curse breaking; Jem planned to go in for poison analysis as he had taken Herbology to NEWT. And at that their results were good; until one compared them to the Prowling Marauders, Senagra Lynx and Fabian each with six NEWTs, mostly at 'O'; and Jade with eight NEWTs at 'O' grade. But then, Jade was like that; and had probably done it as much to go one better than Hermione Granger as because she really could not bear to give up any subject she found interesting!

Jade had no plans to be an auror; her career path probably boiled down to 'kill dark wizards, make the world safe for everybody and rear babies to do the same thing'. And she was setting out on that career by entering Durmstrang under a pseudonym, being a year ahead of her chronological age, leaving her new baby son in the care of her husband Wolf Luytens. The deep joining was necessary to protect her, that Wolf have a permanent telepathic link to her; it was unfortunate that it inevitably led to babies who ignored potions to discourage their conception.

But baby Ralph Erich would have loving surrogates in the Blood Group; and could feel his mother's love for him through the link. At least he would not suffer even if it tore at Jade to be apart from her husband and baby.

Working against Dark Wizards demanded sacrifice; Severus had made his share in his time.

And he would worry about his daughter Jade; and about the eldest child of his body, Lilith, as she went to Hogwarts. As he should not; Lilith could stand on her own feet and on the feet of anyone who tried to push her about too, metaphorically and, no doubt, literally.

It was nice that Lucius had his annual 'weevil fest' where prospective first years might meet each other, fight, play quidditch, and form friendships before the train for Hogwarts even left. Lilith was somewhere in the thick of a pile of children and judging by the giggles, some of Lucius' less pleasant relatives were likely to find themselves as the focus of various illegal and underage jinxes.

And the various toys of the ingenious Garjala Weasley, goblin wife of Fred and George. Garjala was obviously expecting; and telling anyone who was stupid enough to ask that the father was Fred – or George. Garjala was a skilled enough reader of Scarpin's revellaspell; and Severus had no doubt SHE knew which had sired her baby and respected her for refusing to tell anyone else.

Severus was so pleased for Romulus that he had found happiness with Senagra; how different was this confident young man from the scared little boy he had adopted! Romulus loved being 'Professor Snape' as he was by right, teaching potions in the free school; though the four New Marauders had originally declared their intentions to be aurors, somehow Severus saw them teaching permanently; they had caught the allure of setting young minds afire with the desire for knowledge. It had taken him awhile to catch that allure himself though sometimes brighter pupils had stopped him despairing while he established himself and waited for Harry Potter to start school; and then there had been Krait. And then these younger marauders had grown up with an alert, eager House head or mentor that they had seen too how to draw people on. Thanks to his beloved Krait. And the Headmaster at the free school, Neville Longbottom, whom he had frightened so badly at first in frustration, now one of his dearest friends and kindred too.

The sacrifices brought their own rewards in the end.

By the time Severus escorted Lilith to Diagon Alley to buy her kit he was wondering whether he would most miss her or heave a sigh of relief at relative silence!

He had got as far as getting her cauldron when he noticed the new books outside Smith's bookshop and secondhand books; and could not resist inspecting them. They were his new text book for chanting classes; 'one hundred simple chants and rhythms and their meanings' that led the pupils through crafting simple chants after practising on those he had made up or used from sources he had found to give some idea. The use of chants written by others would not of course bring any degree of virtuosity in chanting but there had to be some kind of starting point. Severus had taught himself from a number of rather obscure works – some of which would form the seminal works for NEWT level chanting – but had been feeling his way as he went, using his native wit to fill in the many things not specified in the more advanced works; since some magic was but hinted at as 'having once been known'; a frustrating phrase! Severus was working on another book – and Tony Queach was using a duplicate draft of it at Hogwarts in the coming year – called 'Intermediate Chanting' that covered the crafting of a chant and simple arithmantic formulae to aid the choice of poetry form and length of a chant. Lydia had given him much input to that work since she had taught a number of pupils at Hogwarts; and he planned to have it published as by Severus and Lydia Snape to credit her.

Advanced chanting really required personal application; though the books he had used would guide. If by OWL chanting did not come naturally, then, like the bagpipes, it were better not to come at all.

Lilith had headed off to Hubble and Sterr's while he got sidetracked; and Severus resolved to give her time to buy illicit potioneering supplies. Far better than having her steal them from the potion dungeon that he could NOT condone, even if she paid for them. Safety in the stores was paramount!

When she turned him out of the depths of the secondhand section later with the tale of a boy called Sextus Scarpin who reminded her of him in stories and declared that she at least was wiser than Lily Evans, Severus had to blink; but at that she was possibly right. Beyond warning her not to draw too many parallels that were not really there and suggesting bringing him home regularly he decided to leave her to it.

His self contained and snaky little daughter probably knew what she was doing; it was a bad habit she got from her mother, he thought lovingly.

He could always rely on his cousin Willow's ability to match a wand to anyone to track Lilith by the wand that was waiting for her if he lost her.

Lilith after all was scarcely as helpless as most of the weevils two years her senior.

Willow duly tracked Lilith down; and Severus finished getting her Hogwarts kit, her uniform at least easy now that Madam Malkin was stocking clothes in goblin and elf sizes. Lilith was tiny; she took after her mother in that as well, and Krait did not reach five feet tall. That such was partly down to malnutrition from frequent punishments and a lack of a loving background in the orphanage did not prevent part of it being also much from her petite and delicate Malfoy frame. And Lilith was built in the same way, her effulgent mop of hair making her seem larger but in reality she was hardly any larger than a goblin child her own age, let alone an eleven year old one! Not that his diminutive little daughter was likely to be intimidated that everyone in her year except the half elf Michelle Makepeace was going to be bigger than her!

Any more than it had deterred Mimi, his full blood elf daughter.

And Severus left Lilith in the care of Mimi and Lydia to take to the train; for he must return to Prince Peak to welcome HIS new pupils.

He wondered how long it would be before Lilith started Marauding and what tricks they would pull; and decided that such speculation was beyond the geriatric imagination of anyone over about fourteen.

No doubt Albus would tell him all about it.

He hoped Albus and Hogwarts were ready for Lilith!

Lilith was certainly ready for Hogwarts!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Seagsron Snape had brought those of the new weevils who were to be starting school all the way to Zurich just so they could have the experience of the train journey. This was six of them; quite half the new intake; dad's ward Lucy, Sylvana Nachtigall whose parents ran the Gasthaus until her father's claim was proven that his brother had tried to defraud him by turning his family into werewolves; Beta Kalinka, little sister of Vya, now to be in the third; Rudi Schiff, another ex werewolf; and Vava and Hette Breuer, twin sisters of Anett's ward Yrdl. And various siblings and older residents too had come along to meet their friends – Vya and George, Hanna-Leena Tomika, Yrdl, and older residents too; Irmi Luytens, Seag's blood sister and daughter of Wolf, Helga Von Strang, Reinulf and Ulrich Grindler – more ex werewolves – Victor Crabbe, whom Seag suspected was likely to become a blood brother; and the two long time wards, Harmony Bloom and Tala Ulwin, the first werewolf to be cured. She had joined the ranks of the upper sixth prefects this year; and Seag knew that Alison Plank was to be the other new one in his year, originally a Cackle's girl and a hard worker with ambitions to study further than NEWT. It might have been nice to have had another boy; but James Hubbble Langstaffe still had issues of acting his age not his shoe size. And there were two boys of the four in the new Lower Sixth; Victor and Ulrich, and dad struggling to find a girl as responsible as Helga Von Strang to make four and picking Lily Smethly, another of Cackle's girls who was a nice girl and rather shy that he and Victor had been told off to bring out and boost the confidence of. The lower sixth on the whole were the last ones who had been seriously influenced by the laxity of Cackle's Academy for rather wet witches – as Seag named it to himself – and were incapable of taking decisions or responsibility and who giggled more than they did anything; except Elsie Willis the class swot who was also incapable of flexibility and adapting to the idea that anyone except her might have any validity. At least Louisa La Folle had left after OWLs to become a debutante! Silly, affected wee sumpf thought Seag. It was a pity he'd be leaving this year and wouldn't see dad's triumphant success with the school; unless he came back to teach. There were worse things to do. He preferred, he thought, to distance himself for a while from schoolfellows, however, before teaching; perhaps he would take Auror training just because. Or perhaps he would do research; his unique skills as a half fey made it attractive to pursue fey magic. Especially Fey music; he could then add that to the curriculum when music in magic became a formal subject. Yes, that would do nicely!

Meanwhile he and Victor had tacitly decided to be train whippers-in; and with some of their scattier kids this was no cipher!

Harmony and Tala were there with Ulrich and Helga as prefects to back them; and Seag hoped the two other upper sixth prefects, Angelica Hellibore and Hester Figg would join them in relatively short order.

There were too to be some new boys in the sixth; Blaise Paddock's older brother was to join them for his NEWTs from Hellibore's; and Cenric Grant had asked to do extra NEWTs after leaving Hellibore's. Seag had met him at the Wedding Party and suggested that he should take those subjects that would allow him to pursue other studies; like comparative magic and ancient runes. Cenric was adamant that he wanted to learn Arithmancy and chanting and on admitting to an 'A' grade in Potions Seag advised him to study it over for a better grade. The fey boy had been astonished that Hellibore had picked as one of his top students a lad who was taking only four NEWTs and who had ended up with two 'E's and two 'A's; and Cenric was dubious that he could study four new subjects and re-do a fifth all in a year, and Seag had assured him that if he read enough in the holidays and wasn't too proud to ask for help it would be fine.

Cenric Grant was one of the first to arrive, bursting with enthusiasm; and with his two little sisters.

"I can't take it in that Emily's actually taking OWLs this year!" he said cheerfully. "And TEN of them! She's been bringing me up to speed with the background of ancient runes and Arithmancy; I kind of missed a lot of nuances! And Chanting too; I never knew it could be so important, so far as mum recalls from Cackle's all they did was sing and chant and never DID anything with it!"

"Och, weel, yon puir wee body wis a silly owd moo forbye" said Seag.

"He's in a very Scots mood today; ignore him" said Victor "Or poke him like his sisters do."

Seag grinned.

"I rather like to keep people off balance old boy" he said in the accents of Malfoy Manor.

The girls giggled.

"The Paddocks should be right behind us; we travelled with them but Blaise was wheedling ice cream out of Gaius" said Cenric "Being crueller than Gaius I was NOT wheedled."

"Aye, I see them coming the noo" said Seag, who preferred to be aggressively Scots. "Blaise ye wee naif, yer uniform is a' over raspberry ripple. Ye'll be Gaius; Victor here and Ulrich are the boys in yer class; see aboot rremoving yon stains from the messy ane once yer on the train, wud ye no'?"

"Er, yes" said Gaius wondering what the native language of this prefect might be.

"You'll soon find your feet old man" said Victor "We'll all help you settle in and never mind Seagsron being Heeland Laddie at you. Professor Snape had to talk him out of turning up in a brown and orange kilt."

"Och it wud hae been awfu' fetching" mourned Seag "Wi' a cleadh mhor and a'"

"That's a dirty great sword" translated Victor. "Blaise, you're the first of your young hellions except Yrdl."

"Oh well, Yrdl's a good man" said Blaise "And I'm NOT one of the hellions, Snape, even if I'm not as wet as the Finnish Flobberworm."

"Antti is a well behaved laddie I'm sure and no' deserving….. och, awa' wi ye, dinnae hurrt the puir wabbit creature wi' ca'ing him that in his hearing" said Seag.

Blaise gave him a shy grin.

Angelica arrived next with her two young brothers in tow and Bellamy, otherwise known as BaHH, had to demonstrate that he had been learning to yodel. Seag sent him to find Yrdl and told AHHa that Silvina Brewer had returned to school.

"And yer tae be a true marauder and gi' the puir creature room tae find oot wha' she is" he said "Fer she's a' as damaged as any I'm thinking and if ye'll drag her tae the MSHG it'll dae her the worrrld o' guid."

"Well if you say so, Snape" said AHHa "She damn nearly killed Flo but if she really didn't mean to and is wanting to change I guess us lot will help out."

"She's been to apologise to Flo and Vya and Hanna have been trying to help her a' holidays the noo" said Seagh adding a hasty colloquialism as he realised he was being too English. "She has a wee monster o' a younger sisther and nae idea o' decent behaviour; and the noo she's ready tae learn, I'm thinking she will."

AHHa nodded cheerily and went on in. He was a leading light of the First Prince Peak Marauders and his group would make things as easy for Silvina as they could – if she would indeed let them. Flo and Fred Visick were not Marauders but they were decent kids and if they were ready to meet Silvina halfway too and Vya and Hanna the same Silvina should do well enough.

He came upon Kate Grant demanding to know why that girl had been let back and Vya trying to explain that she wanted to have a second chance. AHHa tapped Kate on the shoulder.

"What?" said Kate. She was a rather thick skinned girl which was why she was better at quiddich than her older sister; Emily being slightly more sensitive and imaginative and she flinched from bludgers.

"She's here because Professor Snape feels it appropriate; and third years like us have no right to question his motives but to buckle down and start again as though she's a new oik" said AHHa firmly. "Hello Silvina; nice to meet you, I hope you enjoy being in the third with us. Perhaps you'd like to join the MSHG to help you make friends and have a decent social life?"

"I – thank you AHHa, I think I will" said Silvina firmly. Kate's bluff brusqueness had reduced her almost to tears. Kate never MEANT to bully; but she was forthright to a fault.

Rudi Schiff had come out onto the platform to look for the only other boy to be expected in the first; a Swiss goblin lad. Vilm gan Kurt arrived in the care of Arbrek gan Borek, now in the second, the popular seeker for the second team.

"Weel young Arbrek ye might be playin fer the firrst team; and we'll be trying tae put together a third team the noo" said Seagh. "How d'ye do, young Vilm? Ye and Rudi here maun mak' shift thergither as the only boys in the firrst; an awfu' dour situation I'm afraid!"

"Well it will mean more room for us then I suppose" said Vilm giving Rudi a suspicious look. Rudi did not look that keen either; fortunately as an only child he was used to being self sufficient and was already on fairly friendly terms with Sylvana Nachtigall who had shared the incarceration in the werewolf compound with him. Vilm had a suspicious and mean look to his face and looked a bit like the archetypal caricature of a goblin; still, it took all sorts. Perhaps being treated with honesty and fairness would reach him. Seagh pulled half a face at Arbrek, who shrugged with his own grimace. That said it all; Seagh liked Arbrek and trusted the boy's own feelings.

Next to arrive was Ruth Blaise with her small sister Emma in tow. Ruth, taking OWLs this year was busy adjuring her sister not to run whining to her if she had any trouble since she was too busy with schoolwork.

"Och, and isnae that what we prefects are for?" said Seag.

"Certainly, Emma; we are here to bring troubles to" said Angelica briskly "Sneaking of course is a bit beyond the pale; but you can always ask in general terms if something would be sneaking if you're not sure."

Emma nodded.

"I should think" she said "It OUGHT to be obvious; because don't you ask yourself if it'd get someone hurt?"

"She'll do" said Angelica "Hop on through and ask Lucy Ingate about the MSHG"

"What's that?" Emma asked Ruth "You never told me about it!"

"Oh it's some stupid self help group where you have to do extra exercises and work before school" said Ruth.

"Ruth missed the point somewhere; if I were you, I'd try it first before dismissing it out of hand on her recommendation" said Angelica dryly "You'll find that most of those taking more OWLs and NEWTs tend to belong."

"I wouldn't dismiss anything out of hand, please, Madam Prefect" said Emma "I want to have fun but if I also want to do better than people used to here; and I want to find out the truth about Odessa too."

"I'm Angelica; and I think you're a sensible kid. You'll get all your questions answered in the MSHG" said Angelica who was pleased that Ruth's sister seemed not to be such a bump on a log as Ruth was.

"Tell me too please?" the new child who had arrived managed to wear her uniform with the air of it being a designer model. "And I say, do we play quidditch here?"

"We do; and if you go find Lucy too you'll find out all about the MSHG" said Angelica "You are?"

"Liriope Hallow" said the girl "And I know you cousin Angelica; and I saw you as a contender for the Triwizard and if Jade Snape is the best but the rest were considered worth taking you must be well good and Quirinius was chewing his liver! Especially over being upstaged by a lower sixth; not that he'd have done as well as Miles Grant I'm afraid."

"Lumme!" said Angelica "Little Liriope? Last time I saw you, you'd just manifested magic and turned your own hair blue in the mirror!"

Liriope giggled.

"And mum wouldn't let me keep it!" she mourned. "I say, I AM glad Basilius decided not to do the sixth here like Paddock has; I think I'd rather hate it. I don't much like my brothers."

"That's a shame" said Angelica "I expect it's because they're so much older than you and at the age of infinite pomposity; they'll grow out of it."

"Well I do hope so" said Liriope in a tone of voice that suggested she feared the worst "C'mon Emma, wasn't it, and lets find this Lucy!" she linked arms firmly with the younger Blaise girl and went through the wall with aplomb.

"I wonder if she has an 'off' setting?" murmured Victor.

"Probably not; my brothers don't" said Angelica dryly "And it's a connection through my stepmother. They're her brother's children. I know what she means about Quirinius and Basilius; they're a bit fond of themselves at times."

"Excuse me; Prince Peak?"

It was another small girl with delicate features and pale blonde hair.

"Well you look like some specie of Malfoy, small fry" said Victor.

"Ye'll be Cerellia Yaxley fer yer no' Zoë Gesler nor Ortensia Lollini" said Seagh "And a' ither girrls are accountit for."

"Would you by any chance be from slightly north of Hadrian's wall?" said Cerellia

"Och, and isn't the lassie perspicacious!" Seagh winked at her.

"Well I'm not exactly a Malfoy; my grandfather was but my mother's illegitimate and so am I; so there!" said Cerellia.

"Weel, lassie, ye ken ye shouldnae boast that ye have yer bastardy legitimately as it were by birth when there's sae mony oot there that have tae worrk at bein' bastards" said Seagh "It's no' kind tae them."

Cerellia unravelled that; then her face lightened and she laughed.

"I thought if it made a difference I'd get ready to get my retaliation in first" she said.

"What matters is that you work hard, play hard, try not to be too much of a nuisance and only in the best way – with japes not nastiness – and rub along tolerably with your fellows" said Angelica "Go find my cousin Liriope and Lucy and er, a selection of others."

"Sylvana, Beta, Hette, Vava, and Emma" said Seagh "And three of them ain't human so I hope ye've no mair prejudices aboot their blood status than we have aboot yer birth status."

"I don't know; I never met any elves or goblins" said Cerellia "I don't suppose they're any different to most other people; most of them dipsticks and most of the rest nasty."

Angelica laughed.

"Oh, it seems like that sometimes but there are some decent kids here; and those that aren't we work on until they are" she said. "Oh dear; Seagh, you'd better do Malfoyish cad."

The small dark haired girl with olive skin had a self-stirring cauldron. Seagh went over to her and her parent.

"Excuse me, you have the wrong kit" he said indicating the cauldron "The kit list plainly stated a plain cauldron."

The child's father looked haughty.

"Oh yes, but we want the best for our daughter!"

"Then you were better to get her what was on the kit list; she won't be allowed to use it you know."

"Oh I had better come to the school and make it right with the headmaster" said the man.

"My father, Professor Snape" said Seagh "Is NOT going to permit it; as he also teaches potions, is the world's pre-eminent potioneer and has his very firm ideas on how a child can actually LEARN rather than be the sort of dippy featherhead who reads things like Fifi la Folle. This is a school with academic principles, er, Signor Lollini; and if your daughter is not capable of handling academic work she might be happier at Beauxbatons. But she will NOT learn with kindergarten aids like self stirring cauldrons. It's no' permittit" he lapsed back to his vernacular.

"Are you calling my daughter stupid, English?"

"Not if she's capable of working without toys" said Seagh "And actually you know my name is Snape so please use it, Signor Lollini" he added coldly "You will have to take that travesty away with you; Ortensia can use a school cauldron until you forward her the money to buy a proper one. We have a cauldron maker and mender at our disposal who will make one to Professor Snape's stringent requirements. I hope you don't have anything like dedicated wands either young Ortensia."

"No" said the girl quickly.

"Why, are they forbidden too?" asked Lollini "Surely anything that makes life easier is permitted?"

"If you want to make life easier, why would you bother to send a child to school?" said Seagh "The point of such aids is for those who are incapable of learning and need them. The point of SCHOOL is to learn NOT to need the crutches of the incapable. Like those fools who wear clothing with the shield charm on it because they are incapable of casting it because some families don't see fit to teach it wandless before their kids reach school. And Madam Parnassus is going to drop detention on anyone that uses cheat wands you know."

"I see" said Signor Lollini staring at the idea that this boy considered the shield charm one that should be known before school! They had said the new school had a reputation for being academic; he had not realised HOW academic! "Carissima, we had better look in your trunk; Mama might have packed dedicated wands" he added diplomatically since his daughter had denied utterly.

Seagh worked on not pulling a face; she was a liar and her father knew she was a liar and saved her face.

She probably WOULD be better off at Beauxbatons; but she had to find that out for herself.

Angelica was meanwhile greeting the last weevil expected; a Swiss girl called Zoë Gesler who had arrived with the Accola girls.

"Zoë's dad works with our mum" volunteered Roseli "Are my crowd here please?"

"Pretty much" said Angelica; various second years had arrived with older siblings or alone to join Yrdl and BaHH if of their set or to try to survive that set if they were not.

Zoë smiled hopefully.

"It is good to get an education that is better than Beauxbatons without having to go to Durmstrang" she said. "I am looking forward to it!"

"Well Roseli will dump you on Lucy and co in the first" said Angelica "You can't miss them, Ros – once you hit the noise it has to be either first years or second years so if you don't recognise them they're it."

Roseli grinned. She was doing extra lessons this year in magical art and was feeling very chuffed to be a second year and no longer one of the youngest; and had found her feet very well! She had no problems with looking after a younger child, as she hoped someone might shepherd her little brother when HE started!

Seagh had firmly sent the Italian father away with confiscated kit and established Ortensia sulking on the train, asking Lucy to look after her; and checked his list with the other prefects against those he had missed arriving.

Predictably Rose Hubble managed to be late, and arrived with a trunk that looked, as Angelica scolded, as though it was having a miscarriage.

At last everyone was on board; though it was NOT very seemly that James Hubble-Langstaff was pursuing AHHa and Julian Finch down the corridor shouting dire warnings at them of what he would do when he caught them.

He pulled up, seeing Seagh. James might castigate Seagh as stuffy but secretly he wished he was more like the able, clever boy, who felt no need to prove anything with japes.

"And wha' d'ye think is going on here?" said Seagh "What hae those little limbs done tae pit ye in sich a sweat?"

James flushed.

"They….er, enchanted some pictures in a magazine I was reading" he muttered.

Seagh elevated an eyebrow.

"Ye'll be letting me see?" he said.

Sheepishly James handed over the magazine that had once been 'Playwizard' and was now most definitely 'Playerumpant'.

"Weel, weel" said Seagh "A forbidden magazine even wi'oot the er, embellishments; best tae lose the evidence" and he touched his wand to it to set light to it. James started to protest; and thought better of it. He had a feeling Professor Snape might take a dim view of things if the story got back to him.

As Seagh later described it to the other prefects,

"Until ye've seen an erumpant wi' tits and a frilly basque ye've no' lived!"

"Thanks, I can live without that" said Victor "AHHa has the most outrageous imagination!"

"Weel, we'd better set to and vote fer who's tae be head of school and hope we have an uneventful journey" said Saegh.

He was wondering who could possibly follow Jade as Head; and was frankly baffled. Angelica was a possibility; she was still a bit of a loner, but she could lead and she had taken responsibility on the platform. Hester would hate being head; so would Tala or Harmony. Alison Plank was too ambitious for herself. That was the upper sixth! He would not complain about Victor or Ulrich in the lower sixth; but Victor was still finding himself and, truth to tell, still concerned about his little brother Walter whose personality had been damaged by a cursed book. The child was in St Mungo's, substantially improved – Severus having taken Victor to visit in the holidays – and trying to catch up with the academic side of the first year work to enter Hogwarts the NEXT academic year. Victor had written to ask his parents to send the boy to the smaller school, Prince Peak, where both he and Severus might keep an eye on him; but just because the precious darling had turned out to be cursed did not mean that the older unwanted one would be taken any notice of. Victor leaned on Severus like a father; and Seagh, abandoned by his own birth father at the age of ten, understood that. He was starting to think of Victor as a brother which was why he hoped he would be blooded in soon. Then Victor would be stronger too to look out for young Walter. He ducked absently as someone's model of Viktor Krumm buzzed into the compartment and buzzed out. The new craze was flying quidditch figures no doubt!

He would vote for Angelica; she was certainly capable.

By next year, Victor would be ready to handle the responsibility; and would do so better than Ulrich, whose stern looks frightened some of the juniors, for he was so dedicated to the overthrow of Odessa and the rescue of other werewolves very little else got in the way.

Angelica had no hesitancy in her vote.

She wrote Seagh's name down and dropped it in the voting slot. She did not see that there was any other choice; though some of the Cackle's girls might vote for one girl or other she did not feel that there was anyone else capable. Then she sat back to read an Arithmancy book; as she had asked to take Arithmancy to OWL alongside her NEWTs as only the incomers and Alison – who was very academic for a Cackle girl – had managed it at OWL and were all taking it to NEWT too.

The journey was indeed quite uneventful; and the weevils duly hustled out of the rack rail carriages and onto the cable car.

Liriope Hallow had been busy asking questions about how the train didn't fall off the mountain and what made the cable car work and had been passed on to the Railway Enthusiasts Club. She and Cerellia seemed to have struck up a friendship on the train, and most of the little girls seemed to be on good terms with the exception of Ortensia, who was still sulking; and Zoë who hovered at the edge and yet seemed unwilling to be drawn in by gentle Beta Kalinka, herself a quiet child who stood back. Zoë could be moved to open up a bit on the subject of quidditch; and Seagh hoped thereby to draw her out. Little girls were very strange and incomprehensible beings. He did not count little Lilith in that – she was, after all, as much a little boy as any of the boys here! – but Lilith was away to Hogwarts and life would be both quieter and more boring.

Severus welcomed the school back to a new year of endeavour; and hoped that the new ones would soon settle in.

"I know the prefects vote by secret ballot" he said "But I AM going to do something rather unprecedented and ask all who voted for my son Seaghsron to stand."

Seagh blinked as all but Hester, Alison and Lily stood up.

"Thank you" said Severus "With my daughter Jade being Head Girl last year I have to say that I was a bit concerned that it would look like a, er, fix."

"You just fix to bring up your kids to be the best, sir!" called out Victor.

Severus gave an austere smile.

"Well, a nice compliment, Mr Crabbe; and if that helps you in your own eventual endeavours in fatherhood I shall be glad" he said. "Seagh is head boy: and the er, second largest group of votes, including Seagh's own vote, are for Angelica Hellibore who will be deputy; with a vote of confidence from her principal too. If you will collect your badges…." Seagh and Angelica went to collect their tin badges. "Seagh, will you designate anyone head of games? You can't do both" said Severus. Seagh hesitated.

"Victor" he said. "I might have picked Cenric because he's supposed to be good but he doesn't know our kids yet. But I think Cenric might do well to bring on the third seven I was hoping we might have this year to train up new ones and stop the reserves getting rusty."

"An admirable idea" said Severus "And perhaps we might issue a round-Robin challenge to the first and second teams of Beauxbatons, Hellibores and Durmstrang as other continental colleges; that gives some of us apart from Hogwarts a chance of winning. Their depth of ability is such that the rest of us need to get some inter-school practise in before issuing THEM with a challenge! I can also offer you a treat; we'll have a few sessions coached by Viktor Krumm this year, and he will be coming full time from next September for those who come to school to specialise in quidditch, in the same way that from next year we shall be taking those who specialise in music in magic and painting. A few of you are already receiving extra lessons for specialities; Randolph and Roseli in art from Callum Prince; and Julian Finch in music who learned a great deal from Professor Queach last year and who is progressing bravely by himself at the moment. From next year we shall have a full time teacher in that. In the mean time, whatever your talents I urge you to work hard at all your subjects to make yourself fully rounded; remembering that even if the subjects you learn do not seem to be relevant to your ambitions at first, there are often subtleties and nuances that become obvious later. Alas the number of potioneers or enchanters who discover that they might have done better in their career had they only studied the subtleties of Arithmancy and not discarded it as too difficult and no use to them! Alas for the chanter and curse breaker who, well versed in Arithmancy, cannot work out the best passage to chant for a lack of knowledge in Ancient Runes! It is, by the way, an improper use of Ancient Runes to carve graffiti on the desks; and if I DO find out who wrote in Oghams that a certain sixth former is ah, odorously challenged there WILL be a detention."

"Sir, it was me" said Cecilia Villeneuve standing up "And I apologise to Mona Mordaunt who was only being a bit of a rotter to us because she was under strain at home that's been sorted but you can't so easily rub out oghams as you can pencil."

"Well, your honesty is appreciated, Miss Villeneuve" said Severus "And so is your apology; so you will only spend one detention period not three with a piece of sanding paper to reduce your felonious calumnies to teach you the value of school property and discourage you from further defacing it."

"Yes sir" said Cecilia "I say, is that a school record for fastest deten?"

"Probably; don't you dare gloat on it you horrid wart!" said Severus.

Cecilia beamed on him.

She had suffered a nasty beating from Mona when her group had set up a trick and had every provocation – as Severus knew unofficially from Jade – but he refused to be lax on such grounds!

Mona had unbent a lot since the juniors had turned their fertile imaginations onto ways to pay back her next door neighbour who was addicted to practical jokes to a degree that it might be considered bullying; and having borrowed a selection of young Marauders for the Easter holidays last year, Elladora Guffy was now rather off practical jokes.

She had still not discovered the source of the bad smell, the dead fish in her bed springs.

Mona gave half a grin and raised a hand.

"Sir, I'll share Villeneuve's detention and help out; I was in the wrong."

"Miss Mordaunt; that shows you a bigger person than I realised" said Severus softly "well done; I am pleased."

Mona flushed, pleased. She was well aware – because Jade had told her – that her previous attitude had prevented her from being a prefect, and though she did not expect to ever be one now she was trying to be less sanctimonious and see when things were just good clean fun. And she knew Jade would expect her to own up to being partly at fault.

And now she was going to have a little brother or sister, because with the strain lifted from them, her parents had decided to have a baby!

And she would hope that seniors would be decent to him or her one day!

The juniors were shown to their dormitories; and the girls were to be glad that Severus had made extra dormitories to take a dozen or so each of boys and girls in each year one day. The girls were therefore in two dormitories, designated now by colours being in pink dormitory and lilac dormitory; Lucy, Sylvana, the Breuer twins, Beta and Emma in one, Liriope, Cerellia, Zoë and Ortensia in the other. Angelica told the girls that there might be negotiations to change around as they settled down but for now they would make the best of it.

Vilm unpacked in his and Rudi's dormitory – indigo – and carefully made sure to look suspiciously at Rudi as he took out a pouch of money.

"Ah, Mr Kurt, ye'll be wanting tae bank yer money with Professor Snape" said Seagh.

"Why should I? Why shouldn't I keep it?" demanded Vilm.

"Because, laddie, it's a rule that ye have most of yer money held by the school bank; and yer pocket money doled out weekly" said Seagh "And it is for safety for it; and fer yer companions. Fer when careless children loose money, some are so rude as tae ca' thief on their companions wi'oot proof; as may cause ill feeling. In Professor Snape's hands it will be aye safe; and if ye have any extraordinary expenses ye may go tae him and ask if ye may have extra, and if he feels it valid, he will let ye have an advance on yer pocket money."

Vilm scowled; but the words 'school bank' had won his – grudging – co-operation.

Seagh sighed. Between a mean little miser like this one and spoilt and probably incapable Ortensia Lollini this year's weevils were NOT up to par.

Still, Crow Langstaff now in the second had settled down; and seemed on friendly terms with the other young limbs in the second, for Seagh had heard Crow explaining gloomily that his parents would need a lot of bringing up before they were going to be half decent.

Engelram Langstaff was a different boy to the lazy, uncaring little boy who had come last year; and was glad of it.

His family elf was really friendly now that Master Engelram said 'please' and 'thank you' and was tidier; and though his parents had stared, Crow had pointed out that he was not about to be shown up by the likes of the Malfoys of this world and their relatives and stared at for being some kind of bounder.

That had made his father stare; and sometimes he remembered a half snapped courtesy to the elf.

And that was a start.


	3. Chapter 3

****_Yup the chapter is early because I have a vet visit tomorrow early [nothing serious! just scheduled visit]  
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**Chapter 3**

"I say you oiks" said Fred Visick to the assembled inhabitants of the middle school common room "I have NEWS".

"Exciting, felonious, necessary or just barely promoted to middle-school boring oikness news?" asked Fred Lowther of the fourth.

"As one twin to another and as one Fred to another I appeal to you not to be crass at me until I've shared it" said Fred Visick "Because I think it's sort of something we could do something with."

"Spill you pompous brat" said Peter Lowther "OW!" as Flo Visick poked him.

"Well I picked up a 'Curse Breaker's Monthly' said Fred "It had been dropped in Diagon Alley and I wondered if there were any handy new curses we might adapt…. I'm GETTING there Lowther stop pulling faces" as Fred Lowther mimed going to sleep "And it had a biog of Madam Hermione Weasley in it."

"So what? Never heard of her" said Peter.

Young Visick rolled his eyes.

"Proves you don't have to be muggleborn to be dim but it helps" he said rudely "And whatever your birth status there's NO excuse for being THAT dim with her living here!"

"Leaving aside your 'scrutiatingly egregious blood snobbery, what do you mean, living here?" said Fred Lowther.

"Come OFF it!" Julian Finch put in his word to support his classmate "EVERYONE knows that she goes under her maiden name or we'd have three Professors Weasley; Hermione Granger, you broken-wanded excuse for a failed _lumos_ charm!

"MADAM Granger?" said Peter "She's married to Professor Weasley? I thought he was unmarried?"

"She's married to Professor Ronald who's Professor Weasley's younger brother, actually" said George Ingate "They being Harry Potter's best friends."

"RIGHT!" said Peter Lowther. "So what?"

Fred Visick heaved a deep sigh of exasperation.

"MY lot are interested" he said "Reckon I'm going to ignore any bleatings from the geriatric fourth."

This was too much and a brief scuffle ensued from which Fred Visick had to be rescued in a somewhat jellied state and Fred Lowther had to be returned to his normal colour and have the spider legs taken off his face. The third felt that they had won on points.

"Go on then kid, tell us" said Peter cheerfully, spitting out the last slug.

"It gave her birthday" Fred said "And it's on the nineteenth of this month; I thought we might do a birthday party or something because she is an awfully good teacher."

"When she isn't doing Gestapo officer impressions" said Fred Lowther. Fortunately this passed over most of Hermione's young fans.

"Arithmancy is the key to higher magic; Jade Snape says so" said Sandalla Zorn. "And she can be 'scrutiatingly snippy if we aren't being clever but I s'pose when you're that clever that they write articles about you it's hard to deal with kids that can't seem to get what you think is easy."

"She's been decent to me" said Silvina Brewer "I ASKED her for help 'cos of all the things I didn't understand and she only put her head in a cupboard to scream once and she answered all my questions without shouting."

"Well that is decent because you and Arithmancy haven't exactly been friends before" said AHHa with more truth than tact. "I reckon her best birthday present would be us trying really hard but I think a party sounds fun too."

"Mind you they write articles about Celestina Warbeck and she isn't clever" said Rose Hubble.

"Rose, my good ass, they write articles about Celestina Warbeck in tripe like 'Witch Weekly' or 'Which Witch' which is articles on people who are famous and some of them are famous for being famous or rich or beautiful. They only write articles on people that are clever in learned publications like they did one on Professor Snape last year in 'Transactions of the Learned Society of Potioneers'" said AHHa.

"Oh" said Rose "I never read that; mum takes the other two and 'Witch and Kitchen' and she says that one's useful but the other two are good for a giggle. I wish I'd known; it would have been nice to have had an article about Professor Snape."

"It was in the August issue; I expect you can get a back copy" said AHHa. "I read it and sometimes I even understand some of it. There's a copy in the library of every learned publication you know; and Professor Snape binds them by the year. There's a smashing photo of him in it looking all intimidating and snide."

Julian grinned.

"So not at all like normal then?" he said .

"Doesn't sound like it" said Sandalla.

Julian sighed.

"So much for sarcasm" he said "Sandalla, he may be mostly gentle and kind to us but if you ever watch him with outsiders – or miscreants for that matter – he IS all intimidating and snide!"

"I'll say" said Silvina, then flushed.

"Well that's the scary Professor Snape Prince Gerhardt always sees" said AHHa "So you appreciate why he's scared of him; I would be if he was waxy at me! And the worst I've ever done is get George stuck in the chimney!"

"Kippered I was" said George cheerfully. "Sorry Fred; yeah, it's a splendid idea; can we do something arithmantically appropriate? How old is she?"

Fred went ferreting in his school bag for the article.

"She was born in 1979" he said importantly "So she's er….. twenty six!"

"Laarvely piece of Arithmancy" murmured Fred Lowther at the smaller Fred's long pause and the use of fingers in adding up.

He dodged the arachnonunculous curse from Flo and Milos Milic caught it instead and threw the tickling hex at Flo.

There was another brief scuffle, this time broken up by Krait who demanded to know what they thought they were doing.

"Brief impromptu free-for-all duel to demonstrate a point about having to be careful when fighting dark wizards when your friends are in the same place" said Rory Staines hastily.

Krait surveyed them.

"I could almost believe it if there weren't so many guilty looking faces" she said "Very resourceful, Mr Staines. All right, clear up the mess, de jinx each other and find something quiet to do."

"Please, we wanted to plan something – something nice, not trouble!" said Fred "We er….. there was a debate and that's how we got sidetracked into having the point proved" he improvised rapidly.

"Well plan it less disruptively" said Krait.

"Is there anything arithmantically exciting about the number twenty six?" asked AHHa daringly.

"Apart from to me because it's my age for the next few months? Not that I know of" said Krait "And if there was I probably would. People keep heaving up the old question over whether twenty-three is arithmantically sound but when they cite muggle religions that only exist in works of fiction I get rather quickly sceptical. Twenty-four and twenty-five yes. Why?"

"Oh just a vague passing thought" said AHHa "Well, people, Madam Malfoy's a sport; shall we tell her?"

There were murmurs of assent so AHHa explained that Fred had had this idea. Krait listened.

"What a nice idea!" she said "I think you might do more with the tie-in of nines; 1979, ninth month, nineteen. That's a prime number remember; significant if you're a purist. Or you could just, y'know, have a party and not trouble with arithmantic significance; actually I think Hermione – uh, Madam Granger – might prefer NOT to have an issue made of her age because when we ladies get the wrong side of twenty-five we get decidedly LESS keen on making an issue of it. Yes, go on the nines; and recall that it's the ninth birthday she's had since she helped kill Voldemort. Next year they're making a bit of a thing of it I think that it'll be a decade; and those of us who were involved are butting out. We don't want the whole razzamatazz organised by idiots who didn't come along for the party because they were too scared; but you kids are too young to have been involved anyway so your appreciation for her part in that as a side issue to the birthday shouldn't get her er, waxy. I'll ask Sirri to let you all loose in the kitchen if you want to bake stuff."

"Cool!" said AHHa "That's those of you who know what to do in the kitchen; the rest of us will…"

"The rest of you will help by fetching and carrying" said Flo "And getting some sticks of candy; because we'll make her birthday cake a big abacus with buns strung on candy cane."

"Brilliant!" said Krait "I'll leave you all to it then."

Krait wondered if she should warn Hermione; and decided against it.

She might find a way to escape and that would disappoint the little horrors. It was good that they felt like appreciating Hermione who was NOT the easiest person to get close to; and not universally popular with the children for her abrasive manner. The third happened – on the whole – to be arithmantically sound if not all brilliant and probably got less short shrift because of it!

Whether they would manage to keep a secret for two and a half weeks was debateable; but that was their problem.

Severus received a call by floo from Hogwarts; it was the goblin Metalwork teacher, professor Jorbal, wanting to consult him about a proposed work.

"I have here some arithmantic notes to cover an amalgam of goblin steel and goblin silver to try to increase the coefficient of magical expansion" Jorbal said "The idea seems feasible but my Arithmancy's not enough to cope; Professor Queach suggested I ask you."

Severus had picked up some knowledge of goblin metal crafting from the father of Irdl Breuer; and was a fine arithmancer and chanter that he might easily follow the notes, despite not knowing all the metalworking notation and jargon.

"Ambitious; but I don't see why it shouldn't work" said Severus "Train me up a teacher for my school, would you, Jorbal? It looks a fascinating study and I love finding out more. Who's this ambition youth?"

"Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak" said Jorbal.

"THAT explains a lot" said Severus "The boy is a genius; no wonder he's combining subjects without a by-you-leave. He'll go far, that one; make anyone who's ever taught him more than proud of him!"

"That I believe" said Jorbal.

Dione Parnassus was NOT amused by the Arithmancy taking place in her charms class; the Tugwood twins had both conceived a liking for Victor Crabbe and had been bickering rather snippily; and had agreed to work out which was most arithmantically perfect for him, being a level of Arithmancy most girls could manage even though neither had taken the OWL in Arithmancy.

Amy and Ellen, had both determined that their name numbers reduced to three; and that Victor reduced to six, but in the previous reduction was thirty-three; and were giggling over the concept that this meant that they should share him. Dione noticed the giggles and demanded that they bring her the papers that were causing so much hilarity.

"As is rather beyond the dignity for girls now in the sixth form" she said. "Dear me; I DO hope you are not going to prove some of the little idiots who giggle over the brewing of Amortentia; Professor Snape tends to be less than tolerant of such silliness. WHAT is this quasi-arithmantic nonsense?"

Ellen had stopped giggling and scowled.

"It – we just wanted to check something" she said.

"Would the name 'Victor' refer to Mr Crabbe?" asked Dione coolly.

"Er, yes, Madam Parnassus" said Amy.

"And as he has a double three and you both reduce to three you feel he should take on both of you?" asked Dione

"In your double dreams!" said Victor, horrified.

"Mr Crabbe seems to militate against your pseudo-Arithmancy" said Dione "So, incidentally do I; as it was taking place in MY class. You may sit detention to repeat this class this evening; you will miss the dance of course, but then you should have thought of that before wasting my time and that of the rest. You may spend the rest of this lesson you are so egregiously wasting working out the arithmantic score for 'I am a naughty little girl'. Everyone else, turn to page seventeen in Waffling's 'Advanced Magical Theory' and observe the chart of Waffling logic that is the basic for designing spells by effect as well as for other, more serious arithmantic studies than the teenage lusts of juvenile witches."

The Tugwood twins squirmed; one tended to forget that Madam Parnassus could be quite as sarcastic as Professor Snape himself if you really went out of your way to push her!

Victor made himself simmer down; the Tugwood twins were such pains! He was interested in Waffling Logic because Jade had used it to solve the riddle pathways in the maze of the Triwizard and had explained something of it. Basically one could boil it down to if such and such a condition applied and if another condition did, or conversely did not apply the answer could be quickly inferred. It was more complex that that; if A was met and B was met that was AND; if A was met and B was NOT met that was NAND, standing for NOT And. Similarly one might have an OR situation or a NOT or, or NOR situation where either condition might be met, or neither.

"Madam Parnassus, this would be used to reverse engineer a spell too, wouldn't it?" he asked.

"Quite right Mr Crabbe" said Dione. "Would you like to apply the logic to a real situation?"

Victor grinned.

"If Amy OR Ellen kissed me it would be a situation of melancholia; if Amy AND Ellen kissed me it would be a situation of suicidal mania" he said. "The NOR passage would be a situation for some small rejoicing."

"Apt, if not entirely devoid of unbecoming facetiae" said Dione dryly.

The Tugwood twins glowered.

Vilm gan Kurt was unsure about how best to exploit his surroundings.

He was not given any racist crap; and that was a revelation. It was as it should be of course; though less palatable was that the elf in his class was treated the same as any person. And so were the disgusting half breeds higher up the school.

Vilm had not yet had comparative magic; and was not a sufficiently observant little boy to notice that one of the professors was half goblin too.

One of the travesties could be found in the junior common room acting as though she was like any other person, shameless creature!

"Hey, half-breed, you are out of line to behave so in front of people!" he said.

There was a shocked silence.

"How DARE you?" said Roseli.

"Gan Kurt, you horrid and verminous first year, you are entirely out of line" said Yrdl coldly "If you are harbouring any misapprehension about Roseli's conception – NOT that it was any business of yours – she is the child of a happy marriage; I suggest you apologise."

"Miscegenation? Voluntary? Her parents are disgusting creatures!" said Vilm.

There was a clamour. Yrdl jumped up on the table and held up her hand for silence; and got it.

"Your call, old bean; as he is a goblin" said BaHH.

"YOU are the one that is disgusting, gan Kurt" said Yrdl "Because you are a racist. People are people; and if they love each other, it's nobody's business but their own! All PEOPLE are beautiful; except the ones with nasty expressions, like yours! Do NOT sneer at other people or you're no better than the Odessa humans who sneer at everyone not pure blood human wizard. I'd love to hear you on miscegenation to Professor Devlin when you're in her class; HER parents are a married couple too and also very happy. You'd likely get banned the class at the least and maybe expelled; Professor Snape doesn't tolerate racists. You may have been taught a load of rubbish; because goblins on the continent have less freedom than in England – and even before the English laws they already had more freedoms as I understand – so that you see a mixed marriage as some kind of sucking up to the overlords; well it isn't necessarily so, so learn to deal with the reality not what you may have been told. I can see why you might be concerned if a human has an elf wife or mistress because of the size, but some elves can make a bigger form to be more convenient on all sorts of levels; like Madam Sirri Snape the Chatelaine does."

"Elves? Who cares about them?" said Vilm.

"Decent people actually" said Yrdl "And if I were you, I wouldn't get stroppy about elves; especially if you disobey Sirri because she's likely to spank you."

"She wouldn't dare!"

"Oh? What's to dare? A member of staff – as the Chatelaine is – spanking a disobedient brat? Or she could put you in detention instead. Me I'd rather be spanked but there you go."

"Do NOT disrespect Sirri" said Crow with feeling "I came to school with some odd ideas about elves and I had all goodwill withdrawn as well as detentions from Sirri; no washing done, no sweet course at meals – she has the ordering of the servants and believe me you do NOT want to piss off the servants!"

"If they behave disrespectfully they must punish themselves!" said Vilm.

"Oh now that's where you're wrong on so many levels, you nasty little swipe" said Yrdl "For one, they only obey the STAFF; and for another they've all been to England to cross the line that breaks the curse of having to self punish. Professor Snape was one of those who broke the curse; because he's the greatest curse breaker in the world of all time. You sound like you belong in Durmstrang, you, for your nasty attitudes. And you still haven't apologised to Roseli."

"Well I'm not going to; she's disgusting. And if any disgusting creature like her is teaching I shall walk out of the class."

He was stared at.

"Then I guess we send you to, er…." Yrdl fumbled

"Coventry" said BaHH "Vilm, what that means is that nobody talks to you; or answers when you speak; or lends you any books or helps you. It's a lonely business. I should really reconsider apologising in your shoes; and on telling us why you hold such odd attitudes so we can help you join the sentient races."

"Thank you BaHH for such a pellucidly clear explanation" said Yrdl as Vilm opened his mouth to call racist bullying on BaHH; as he could NOT on another goblin.

"Lot of stupid childishness; you'll learn when you get into the real world what people think of creatures like that" said Vilm.

"Actually" said Zoë Gesler "I know Roseli's parents and most people think them courageous and a nicer couple than many."

"Nice comment Gesler" said Lucy. "I say, warts, we weevils are ashamed to have this associated with us."

"And he isn't ANYTHING to do with me" said Arbrek "His dad works for mine and I was asked to escort him is all."

"Oh well I guess if he starts anything we can polyjuice him into Roseli until he caves in" giggled Hette.

"Or something equally amusing" said her twin.

"And to think I thought it was only a selection of MY relatives who were embarrassingly racist" said Cerellia "And me keeping quiet about being a pure blood witch in case anyone though I was a blood snob!"

"But it is good to be pure blood yes?" said Ortensia "If I was pure blood I could have gone to Durmstrang where I would not have to mix with goblins and elves."

"Lollini, have you missed the point that we're yelling at gan Kurt for being a racist that you then come out with a racist comment?" said Lucy.

"She probably didn't listen to me calling him down because she won't listen to goblins" said Yrdl cheerfully "I'd keep it shut if I was you Lollini or you'll be going the right way to end up sent to Coventry too; and you and gan Kurt will only have each other to dance with in dancing classes."

Ortensia looked horrified.

"I apologise if I said anything offensive" she said hastily.

Everyone knew she did not mean it; her eyes slid sideways as she spoke. But it would have to do.

And Vilm was sent to Coventry declaring that he did not care.

Ellie Devlin expected her class to rise when she came in; it was the custom to do so. For one of her class to give a sound of disgust and to charge out of her class as she came to the front was not so common.

"Be seated" she said "Any idea what may be wrong with that young man? Has he a friend who wants to go and see if he's all right?"

The class sat stolidly still.

"Is there any explanation anyone would care to give?" said Ellie.

"Not that we'd CARE to give Madam Devlin" said Vava "Because it's not right to rat someone up especially when they aren't here to defend themselves even if they could find a defence which seems unlikely but…. I believe the English phrase is that I dig a hole."

"You are rather" said Ellie. "Is the boy ill?"

"No Madam Devlin" said Lucy "Sick in the head possibly but not ill."

"Well, I find myself mystified" said Ellie. "Lucy, run and ask one of the castle elves to keep an eye on him please."

Lucy ran to do as she was bid; and ran back. She had no intention of missing more than she needed of Comparative Magic; though she knew that Madam Devlin would be introducing the subject, and she at least had the advantage of knowing more about it than most.

Indeed when Lucy returned, Madam Devlin was just winding up a basic introduction.

She smiled at Lucy and went on,

"We shall start with an overview of the importance of the written and spoken word in various cultures from the rather happy-go-lucky English method where intent is more important than word through to the Finnish use of names to tie a spell to a particular object – I see puzzlement. Let us take the simple charm _wingardium leviosa_; this lifts any object we point a wand at and concentrate on. For the Finns the wand is less important than that they name precisely the object to be lifted, speaking the charm and naming, say, 'The blue-painted turned wooden eggcup belonging to Professor Parnassus'. For casting a spell upon a person, knowing his or her true name is important; the name by which they think of themselves, any concealed name or any nickname being equally relevant and for the strongest magic all being needed. Their tradition assigns secret names to different classes of objects – stones for example – that may also bear real names if they are in any way significant. The Finns name everything. In the Triwizard, when Jade Snape changed the machinery to ice, she muttered the Finnish word for metal and her transfiguration involved a neat piece of grammatical chicanery to change the word to the Finnish for Ice to speed up the process. Jade is probably the most accomplished non Finn at this skill. And as you can see it may be used in conjunction with everyday magic; as may other techniques we shall touch on during this course. We shall also look at non human magic and on the relationships different traditions have with a variety of magical beings; starting with shapeshifters. Your homework is to look up as many different shapeshifters as interest you – no less than three – and write a brief paragraph on them, not neglecting the regions in which they are most common; and as I thought, there is the bell. Dismissed!"

Sylvana, Liriope and Cerellia were deep in discussion about how the use of this naming magic might make things work better!

"Professor Snape uses it in chanting too" said Vava "And he chants to improve the true name properties of ingredients for potions."

"How do you know?" asked Liriope.

"'Cos we live down the mountain in the village and we knock around with his kids and wards of course" said Hette "like Lucy who's picked up a whole lot!"

"What are we going to do about gan Kurt by the way?" said Emma "I didn't butt in when he was first sounding off, but we CAN'T let him be so rude can we, without some kind of comment?"

"We chant him up a nice set of zits saying 'racist' and tie it to his true name" said Vava. "I THINK I know how to do it; and I know who will if I don't, it's Irmi Luytens who's a fifth former, her dad is married to Jade Snape so she knows loads!"

When the situation was explained, Irmi was only too happy to help; people who jeopardised the rights of their race by being as racist as anyone else really irritated her, like those werewolves who boasted of their kills and infectings.

There was not time to do it yet; so the first bided their time. Or at least, those of the first who were to be involved; leaving out only Zoë who shrank back from doing anything not nice, and Ortensia who had not been invited. Rudi was already sick of the insinuations that a human would steal from a goblin given half a chance and Beta had already refused an order from Vilm and told him to fetch his own books, a refusal that had left him open mouthed in amazement.

They bided their time.

Ellie meanwhile had run Vilm to earth – with the aid of the elves – in the common room.

"Mr gan Kurt, I would rather like an explanation as to why you ran out of my lesson so rudely without so much as a by-your-leave" she said coldly.

"It's a shame there are no people in here to talk to" said Vilm loudly "I could then complain about being addressed by disgusting creatures that should have been drowned at birth."

He then yelped as he was hoisted onto his toes by the ear with a flick of Ellie's wand.

She had not bothered with an incantation for the prefect's curse.

"Mr gan Kurt, there had better be an apology post haste or you will be explaining to the headmaster why you disrespect his choice of staff" said Ellie coldly "As I am far too angry by such a crass, ignorant and ridiculous comment to actually want to deal with you."

"Let go of me you travesty!" howled Vilm.

He was duly dragged – on tiptoes and faster than was free of pain – to the head's office where Ellie repeated what he had said.

"Perhaps you will explain to ME, Mr gan Kurt, what you meant by so disgusting a comment" said Severus silkily.

"Disgusting? It's creatures like THAT that are disgusting, and two of them in the school too, shamelessly flaunting the loathsome miscegenation of their filthy parents!" cried Vilm.

Severus stared into his eyes.

He sighed.

"Dear me" he said "I cannot see any reason that has set off such a vile belief structure; you are, my child, completely out of line in any civilised society that accepts people as people; indeed Ellie Devlin was the first known part goblin at Hogwarts school that paved the way for other goblins – including Kinat Gan Konal, first full blood goblin who dared to ask because his friend Ellie was going there. Ellie and Kinat were the two on which the whole basis of England's gradual acceptance of goblin rights was based; and the fact that goblins and humans COULD live in sufficient harmony that even marriage was possible. Without Madam Devlin being brave enough to be a pioneer – and in the Voldemort years at that – we should not have goblins at Prince Peak because it would never have occurred to us. That she was also one who fought Voldemort – the zig-zag scar some of us bear shows where we bounced his killing curse – also means she has fought for YOUR rights. She has placed her life at risk in more ways than you can imagine so the likes of YOU get to grow up educated; so that the world is shown the way by English laws; so that Voldemort, who could have eaten Prince Gerhardt alive and spat out his bones, did NOT take over the wizarding world. But alas! You're just as selfish as any deatheater, as self centred as Gerhardt or Voldemort and my words fall on deaf ears. You may reflect in the detention room for the rest of the day; your lunch will be brought on a tray. If you have considered my words and are ready to apologise by the end of school we can begin again. If not….. well, I may have to consider asking your father to withdraw you."

Vilm sulked.

He wanted the education; but the idea of having to apologise to something he considered an abomination was more than he could bear!

The British goblin might be a little sniffy about a half breed; but Britain had long had a tradition of all kinds of mixes and a belief that how you spoke was more important than what you were. Goblins were low; but goblins could rise to trusted position, so the gulf was less than on the continent; even Switzerland. Where a social gulf is extreme, crossing the gulf is an action looked down on from both sides of the gulf; and though the better off goblins in Switzerland were less censorious, the lower middle class goblins like Vilm and his family were very conservative. Vilm was being sponsored by Arbrek's father because Kurt, Vilm's father, had impressed Borek, Arbrek's father and when the man spoke of a bright son, Borek agreed to sponsor him since he had only been blessed with one child.

And Severus hesitated to throw that gift of education back in the face of a man who had offered it to another out of the goodness of his heart; that might too cause resentments in the man's bank.

But on the other hand, he would not have racist views promulgated.

Severus considered asking Borek himself to come and talk to the boy; and decided that such he would do if Vilm would not back down.

Vilm would not back down; he was determined that if his education was devalued by being taught by an abomination he would rather have no education; cutting off his nose to spite his face.

And Severus banished him to the sick bay over night until he might contact Borek.

Borek reported to Severus that his own words fell on deaf ears; the boy literally could not understand that Borek found no shame in half goblins and believed he was putting a hypocritical face on it. Even when Borek became angry, the boy seemed incapable of taking in the reasons why he was angry.

Borek left on the train taking his erstwhile protégé with him.

The first considered it a pity that they would not find out how well their chanted curse worked; or even if it had. But they went through with it anyway just because.

It was several days later that Severus asked the perpetrators of the curse on Mr gan Kurt to own up; and as Zoë rose too – since she had known about it even if she had not joined in – and Irmi Luytens, he decided to do no more than read them a lecture about the discourtesy of showing up the deficiencies of a child in public rather than merely in school since the zits had sprung up on the train and had required HIS chanting to remove them. A boy who had made himself so unpopular that his entire year – bar one – had risen to punish him was proof that the fault was more on his side than theirs. And Irmi would not have lent herself to give the little ones aid, she admitting to having aided in an advisory capacity, had not she felt he deserved it.

The first, it has to be said, were more heartened that the thing had worked than they were chastened by the lecture read them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

There was a slight dormitory rearrangement after the withdrawal of Vilm; both Antti Laakkonen and Blaise Paddock asking Rudi if he minded them moving from their crowded second year dormitory – smalt – into indigo with him. Rudi was indifferent; so long as they did not interfere with him, and said so. Blaise had the courtesy to pass it with the castle elves – which earned him a smile and his favourite sweet at supper from Sirri – and the move was accomplished. It has to be said that the rest of the inhabitants of smalt dormitory were not displeased, since they were the louder and more lawless elements; Antti was accounted a prig and Blaise was in the unfortunate situation of being 'mostly harmless'. A placid, hardworking boy, he preferred to NOT be in a situation of knowing what was being plotted so he could truthfully deny if asked, for he liked his classmates well enough and did not want to get them into trouble. Antti just wanted to disassociate himself from them. Antti was not the sort who would sneak but he did have a habit of saying 'I told you so' when people were caught. His year mates agreed there was nothing WRONG with the boy but he was too much of a nothing to have a lot RIGHT with him either. The term 'The Finnish Flobberworm' stuck.

The staff nickname for indigo dormitory was 'the Hufflepuff dorm' which said it all.

It was the fifth who managed to cause the next minor upheaval.

Both Evangeline Chaunter and Deborah Puisel had complained that they had certainly left some of their things behind last year and couldn't find them; and as Elsie Blackwood had mislaid her own favourite ink since the beginning of term she came up with an idea.

Elsie was a much stronger child than she had been the year before when she had been very delicate; and she had been taking chanting seriously to strengthen her lungs. Accordingly she suggested that the fifth work out a chant using the finding charm as a basis that would find everything that was lost and pile it into a circle defined by the chant.

The others voted it a good idea.

In principle it was an excellent idea, and when the youngsters who were taking chanting to OWL had defined their circle and chanted they were delighted when it started filling.

They were less delighted when their small circle overflowed and the column of lost objects toppled over on top of them.

Every object that had ever been lost at Prince Peak or Miss Cackle's Academy appeared before them; including the dead rat that had been the plaything of Stripey the castle leopard that he had dropped and been unable to reach.

"Oops" said Emily.

"But how powerful!" said Adrian. "Emily, we shall clear away the less er, savoury objects and then we shall charge two knuts to anyone who has lost kit to get their own items back and just sell off the rest for the free places fund."

"Brilliant!" said Emily.

"There are superannuated apple cores in there" said Irmi. "I will to the kitchen go and ask for cleaning stuff; and we will fold all the cardigans neatly and pick up all the wanted things and just sweep the not-wanted things in a pile and use _evanesco _ on them; and I will on my way dispose of the moribund rodent."

Emily grinned; Irmi's language was moulded by living in the castle around Professor Snape and his family and her still rather precise English contained occasionally startling pieces of vocabulary and remarkable pedantries.

It has to be said that, once the more unpleasant things had been got rid of – some of which must have been forbidden treats hidden when a teacher came in and then forgotten about, as Adrian said of the various tart-shaped piles of mould – the class was able to engage in much hilarity over the lost items of clothing from the time of Cackle's academy. Too well some of the girls remembered the gym slips and black checked summer frocks of their own time as Cackle's girls, but the clothing of their parents and perhaps grandparents were just too hilarious. The school had been started by Miss Cackle's mother; and the long shapeless garments in black and white stripes were horrible!

"I say, what about a school museum?" suggested Emily "We could write home and ask for old photos of the older generations and have a little display by the library."

"Good idea!" approved Irmi "And we can also write up the history of the jealousy of Agatha Cackle and the school's foremost place in the fight against Odessa and it being the place our Headmaster developed the cure for werewolves."

"HAS he?" said Deborah.

"Of course he has!" said Irmi "Otherwise those of us who were werewolves could not have had a normal school life; those of us unfortunate to have contracted it in our childhood from various circumstances!"

"YOU used to be a werewolf?" Deborah stared.

Emily giggled.

"But I guess she's all right NOOOOOOW!" she said.

"I am; and I am most glad. To be a wolf animagus is fun but to lose your mind once a month is very bad" said Irmi "It makes the more normal monthly curse look quite mundane."

"Crumbs!" said Evangeline. "How come you got to be a werewolf so young?"

"Because Odessa has people made werewolves young to train them and brainwash them; and encourages them to have children without warning them that their children will be werewolves too" said Irmi calmly "Daddy and me escaped from Odessa and he was one of Professor Snape's volunteer experimental subjects. We don't like Odessa."

Had not the Cackle's girls remembered so clearly the fearful time when they realised that they had the wrong Miss Cackle, the time Severus had arrived to rescue them, they might have been less ready to accept Irmi's status as a cured werewolf; as it was they shuddered and agreed with her!

Indigo Dormitory was to have another inhabitant; Borek having declared his intention to support another child in school and so going out to seek a child WORTH spending his money on.

The young goblin boy, Henik was in a wheelchair when he arrived.

"The boy's father deserted his mother when he was born with his spine exposed" said Borek "The poor woman has been working as a prostitute to support him. I came across Henik as a street arithmancer; selling fortunes using numerology and breaking minor curses. I thought that was worth an education; and I have talked to HIM about the different people you have here."

"Why would I want to make bad comments about others when I am used myself to receive ill natured remarks just for something I cannot help?" said Henik to the tall scarred human. "It's unfair; I don't like people who are unfair."

The grim visage of Professor Snape broke into a smile.

"No lad; nor do I" he said. "Now, my wife and I are going to look at your back; and I have little doubt that we shall be able to improve it even if we cannot effect a complete cure."

Krait came in on light feet and Henik was lifted by Professor Snape and laid face down on the sofa. Gentle hands explored.

"Meh, piece o' piss" said Krait "Any semi-capable medical transfigurationist could have done it when he was a baby; why ever was it not done?"

"My parents were pretty poor, gracious lady, even before my father walked out on us" said Henik. "They could not afford a medical transfigurationist."

"You have to PAY in Switzerland?" said Krait.

"Gracious lady" said Borek "I will speak with other wealthy people towards a fund for children in need. England is a beacon in the darkness for goblin kind."

"Pardon me, Herr gan Tork" said Krait "But I believe there are probably poverty stricken humans also; and it seems to me that if wealthy goblins fund both races and mixed race children also, it might shame the government into providing free treatment for all; in line with England."

Borek grinned.

"You are as cunning as any goblin, gracious lady!" he said

Severus and Krait chanted over the young boy's mangled back; and he cried out as feeling shot through restored nerves to his feet and legs.

"You will need to exercise carefully to restore the muscle tone properly; magically enhanced tone is not so efficient" said Severus "We will use muggle-developed exercises to aid you, for their methods are really very efficient, more so in the long run than a quick magical fix. It is worth the pain I assure you; I have used the methods myself to enhance my own strength."

"Yes sir; if you say so" said Henik, trying not to sound dubious "Why, I can MOVE!" he cried "Oh THANK you!"

"Well lad, you'll be in the chair for lessons for a while" said Severus. "What you decide to tell your classmates is up to you; most of them are decent kids who will sympathise without pity for the truth. I will tell the school that you are temporarily confined to the chair and that the school should be aware and to be sensitive about not barging down corridors when you start to walk. It would not be a case of deliberate bullying but that young people are heedless feckless creatures and need to be reminded that too much exuberance can be dangerous!"

"Thank you sir!" said Henik.

Henik, introduced to the first, found himself the centre of willing offers to push his chair and to help him catch up with the first two weeks' work and Lucy requested Professor Snape to relax the rule about no work in common rooms for a couple of weeks until Henik had caught up.

"So long as it is not abused, I will permit the relaxation" said Severus "I put you children on your honour to do work only related to helping Henik and to not do your own prep anywhere but the proper place and time."

He had a chorus of assent and left them to it.

Henik thought he was in heaven!

The school uniform was finer than anything he had ever worn; and he had books galore, and he was warm and not just allowed time to study but it was encouraged! His mother had encouraged him to read anything she could get for him, but he had also had to help out as soon as he was old enough doing such things as stringing beads for the jeweller, on a pittance of a wage; and he had been glad to have learned enough Arithmancy to demonstrate to his mother that he made more at that than doing ill-paid piece work. And now he could learn more!

He soon discovered that there were holes in his knowledge of Arithmancy, but that in general he was ahead of most of the class; and Madam Granger smiled at him and told him that if he wanted to progress at his own pace once he had caught up other subjects, she was flexible enough to set him extra work since the school WAS supposed to develop the individual abilities of talented children.

Henik was overwhelmed!

And the boys in his dormitory may not have been the most sociable in the school, but they readily helped out with his toileting needs – and Henik was glad that at least he had always had control of those functions – by helping him to the bathroom in the night if he needed it while his legs grew strong enough to take himself.

Rudi appointed himself protector to the young goblin boy; he knew what it was to have an affliction, even if he had not been different in the werewolf compound. And Henik helped him with Arithmancy, which Rudi almost despaired of ever understanding! Both boys were very organised and if they sighed a little over Antti's total lack of ability to ever have the right things for any class or to find his clothes in the morning they hid it, for Antti was kind enough to Henik in his rather slapdash way.

Antti had paid rather a lot to the sponsorship fund for the return of HIS lost property; and had been glad to do so just to get back three socks – all odd – two text books, seven quills, a fiction book and a sweater. As well as the things he had lost the previous year.

Antti had actually managed to lose more even than Rose Hubble!

Madam Granger had thought it a nice enough birthday present to have an arithmantic genius in the form of Henik; the surprise birthday party of the middle school left her feeling quite choked!

She had warned Severus that she had thought the middle school were up to something and had been disappointed in his apparent lack of interest – so he had KNOWN!

"SPEECH!" shouted AHHa.

"I declare myself robbed of words!" said Hermione, who had been led all unsuspecting to the middle school common room allegedly to adjudicate a dispute. "I – thank you all; and thank you too for not presuming on my speechlessness to do this in school time. Now I know why the lot of you have been as scatty as the mountain goats on the Alm for the last few days. It's a beautiful abacus and I'm almost afraid to eat any of it; but permit me to contribute to the feast and let us enjoy it!" she waved her wand in a complex pattern and enough mugs of pumpkin juice appeared out of thin air for the whole company. She was cheered for such an elegant display of wand work; the marauders particularly appreciated such virtuosity, Muggle Marauders and First Peak Marauders alike. And if the Muggle Marauders presented her with a piece of cake with sharply snapped heels and a Nazi salute it was from affection for a fellow Marauder that they teased.

In equal affection Hermione clipped them all across the back of the head with two fingers.

It was understood that maudlin was NOT permitted for Madam Granger!

Arbrek had had a long talk with his father before Borek returned home; and he too was keeping half an eye on Henik. He introduced himself as Borek's son.

"My dad wants you to use his name rather than be shamed as 'gan Prok', no man's son, or use the name of an inadequate that could not deal with adversity" he said "And I'm happy to look out for you as a younger brother; it does not mean he will take you from your mother. Some will think she has been his mistress, but dad is willing to accept that if it makes life easier for you. My mum is looking out for your mum too."

"Your father has been so good to me; I think I will, if he is willing, use just his name but not 'gan'; for I am NOT his son. The humans just like a second name for their paperwork; I though I should be known as Henik the Halt."

"Well, you can look on dad as an uncle perhaps; he did sponsor another boy first, did he tell you? Who let him down by being racist."

"Yes; he said it meant he also had to terminate the boy's father's employment for being unbearably rude to him" said Henik "What a horrid boy he sounds!"

"He was" said Henik "And while us goblins are getting more rights established we have to leap on the ones that only reinforce human ideas of goblins. Professor Snape explained to me – I went and asked – that there are good and bad people of all races and HE accepts that, but that he could not let such an example be cited by the human children here, even if he thought there was a slight chance of teaching Vilm; which he didn't think there was. Me, I've always been rich; you've always been poor. So we can both afford to think as we like and do as we like because no-one cares about the poor, I'm afraid, and the rich can afford to do as they please and not care about the opinions of others. The people in the middle are so desperate to be higher that they put other people down that they can to try to put themselves up. Professor Snape says humans are just the same and so too are elves that are free but poorish!"

"I s'pose that proves more than anything else that people are all much alike" said Henik.

"Yes; but I wish that they were a bit nicer" sighed Arbrek "I s'pose at least the middle classes do at least represent a minority on the continent; and in England where they are the mostest class of goblins there's more social mobility so they're not quite so desperate to claw at it. And they HAVE had goblin heroes and human heroes fighting side by side. And we have one of them teaching us; Madam Devlin was the first DECLARED part goblin in Hogwarts school beside her full blood friend Kinat that everyone has heard of!"

"She's a real hero then!" said Henik impressed, determined to work really hard in comparative magic!

Almost a week after Hermione's birthday party the blood group – who had already spread out one cruciatus curse placed on Jade – received an excited blood pulse from her and the cryptic communication,

"I say, I've just watched the world's craziest blue movie!"

Jade went on to explain that the Care of Magical Beasts teacher at Durmstrang was brilliant and innovative and had used omnioculars to record animal behaviour, including never previously described mating rituals of Graphorns. Naturally David Fraser was fascinated; and admiring! He decided to go and chat to Lucius about it and see what might be done; Jade said that Señor Carcano was sending an omniocular to Lucius with a covering letter and asked David to suggest that Lucius also suggested that if there was a long correspondence that he persuade the elf that came to be sure that a different elf went to England each time to break the self-punishment curse. David agreed; that was more important really than the new ideas of the Durmstrang teacher's discovery though he had to admit guiltily not as exciting!

Anett Breuer was enjoying teaching in Prince Peak.

The atmosphere was so different to Durmstrang; the children, even the little ones, were happy, barring the odd bout of homesickness; and for that there were cuddles from someone like Krait Snape rather than ragging from the peer group or prowling and predatory older ones. Indeed, nobody but prefects were allowed in the dormitories of younger ones; and the rule about them only going into dorms of those of their own sex was also strictly enforced. Nobody seemed to be bullied; the older ones, even the prefects, did not throw their weight around; and the only reference Anett heard to fagging was the disgusted comment from Flo Visick that now Jade had left she didn't suppose Angelica would let her fag for her and besides, she wasn't Jade and so it was hardly worth it anyway. The little ones seemed to cheerfully run the odd errand for the older ones; and one picked out quickly which sixth formers were the most popular that little ones hung around to do errands for. Angelica was popular enough – Flo's odious comparisons despite – though it was Hester Figg and Harmony Bloom who had the most adoration from the youngest, for being gentle and kindly girls. Not that Angelica was not given respect; for she was, as was Seagh. Seagh was Anett's bloodkin now; and his particular satellites were the gang of four Muggle Marauders in the fourth; though Anett did not know it, Seagh had suggested that the Lowther twins – who HAD magical talent – should make a blood group with their two muggle friends to get them all accepted of right and though they were now all part of the greater blood group, they would never forget that!

Anett had only one sixth form student in the person of Harmony Bloom; and Harmony explained that this was because Miss Cackle had made Madam Hardbroom teach some botany with potions but did not think hands-on gardening very nice because of grubbing in dirt, so the Cackle's girls had had no real experience of it. Professor Snape had now made the subject compulsory to OWL because of the applications for Potioneering; but planned in the future to remove both it and Care of Magical Beasts from the compulsory list so that after the third year there was more chance for students to specialise, once both magical music and magical art were established parts of the curriculum; and, if possible, metalwork as Hogwarts had introduced. Professor Snape intended to charge extra for those pupils who had special talents to be nurtured to cover having a larger staff than such a small school would seem to warrant; he was also planning on opening up the school to take up to twice as many pupils, though he was also considering having entrance by examination and interview too, so that only the most able were admitted. Anett learned a lot by just chatting to Harmony; like how Professor Snape had rescued her and her big sister from quarrelling parents and cured the awful scar the crossfire of their violent arguments had caused on her sister's face. She also learned how kind Jade had been to Harmony and that Jade was slightly younger than Harmony but so clever she had done her OWLs a year early and stayed then with the other NEWT students that had come to Prince Peak. Harmony had giggled over how shocked and outraged Cackle's girls had been to have to show courtesy and rise for teachers when Professor Snape had taken over and how irritable Krait had waxed over a class not even stopping talking when she came into the room. The insights into British courtesy were revealing; that the staff would take a deal of what Anett might consider cheek, so long as it was couched in polite terms and well-intentioned. Well, the English way produced results!

Anett was also writing carefully scripted reports for Herzog Von Frettchen, for whom she was supposedly spying; and answered a request from him to find out all she could of a girl called Nefrita Von Strang and also about the Nachtigall family.

Nefrita Von Strang was the pseudonym of Jade Snape, spying this year in Durmstrang with intent to infiltrate Odessa; and Anett took her turn at cuddling Jade's baby boy whom she had had to leave behind. Irmi was devoted to her little brother and he did not lack for an excess of relatives, but Anett thought Jade full of fortitude to have to leave him! She wrote to the Duke that Nefrita was reckoned rather stuck up and self sufficient though very able and that Professor Snape had muttered something about being not displeased to rid himself of a sneering face of a little Nazi, though she did not quite, lied Anett, understand that. She wrote the absolute truth about the Nachtigall family; that Friedolf Nachtigall had told a story that when his eldest child entered Durmstrang he, his pregnant wife, and their other daughter, were bitten by a werewolf that he believed had been arranged by his brother Ritter. Katarina had been at school at Prince Peak for a year and did very well, and Professor Snape's werewolf cure had worked on the other Nachtigalls and little Sylvana had just entered the school and was doing well. Von Frettchen could, easily enough, find out how old she was after all.

Presumably Jade was irritating Ritter Nachtigall's son who was in her year; and the Ferret was wondering which Nachtigall to support. As Severus was hoping to turn Von Frettchen, Anett had every intention of trying to get him to support Friedolf and his family.

Besides, Sylvana was a delightful child, full of intelligence and curiosity about the whole world; a tragedy to trammel such in being a werewolf, poor babe! Not that she was quite as full of curiosity as her friend Liriope Hallow, who had already been christened 'Elephant's child' by Lucy Ingate who had then had to get out the 'Just So' stories to explain it.

Liriope had giggled and said that she liked her own neat snub nose thank you and did NOT intend to go anywhere near the Great Grey Green Greasy Limpopo River all set about with fever trees, let alone near any crocodiles.

It had started the first years playing a new game; a variant on 'crocodile, crocodile may I cross your river' that had a forfeit of a one inch nose growth for anyone caught and the person with the longest nose at the end of the game – taking the longer proboscis of goblins into account – had to fetch the kaffee und kuchen for the rest of the class. It kept them out of trouble if not in the least bit quiet.

Yrdl giggled and told Anett that they in the second declared the game beneath them and pretended to set their dignity aside to join in purely to make better numbers.

"We can't of course let first year weevils think that they've invented a game we enjoy" she said.

"Oh quite" said Anett hiding a smile.

Henik had been enabled to join in by the expedient of some clever charms on his chair – mostly on the part of the second – permitting it to float and to have a propulsion charm on it like a broom. Henik had declined the use of a broom, declaring he would not feel safe on it, so the juniors had compromised so he should not be left out of the fun.

Being used to being left out of fun, Henik was quite overwhelmed again!

Ortensia preferred to be left out of the fun; she could not see the point of games haring around and getting mussed for silly reasons and said so. The second, with their propensity for nicknames tried 'The Italian Idjit' and, because she came from the centre of Northern Italy, settled on 'The Appenine Agelast' the word 'agelast' meaning 'one who never laughs' having been used for a rhyme in the Hogwart's song, 'Modern Hogwarts Potioneer' that did the rounds like 'The cauldron Monster Song' travelling via various Marauders.

The first would have gone to war with the second on general principles over that had not Ortensia heard the name and demanded the meaning, smiled, preened, and said that it was nice to have it acknowledged that she was no giggling fool like most of them.

Mildly insulting nicknames were not supposed to be taken as compliments save to disconcert the giver of the name; and Ortensia so plainly believed that it was a compliment that the first gave up in disgust!

Severus received another call by floo, from Connie Hardbroom, explaining that a youth who had been under him as house head had a query.

Severus was surprised to see the handsome black face of Darryl Zabini; a boy he had found truculent and determinedly racist, though polite enough.

"Zabini; how may I help you?" asked Severus. Courtesy cost nothing after all.

The boy poured out his fears that he was being poisoned.

"I fear I may be under the influence of a potion sir; Madam Hardbroom said if anyone would know, you would. We all know about love potions; but is it possible to make one that draws you to someone without actually wanting to be drawn; someone you don't even like?"

Severus frowned in thought.

It took two lots of floo powder to talk through the boys fears; and to reassure him that in Severus' opinion it was nothing worse than a case of hormones. Zabini did not want to discuss which girl made him feel this way; she was not in his class he said hastily and he grinned weakly when Severus joked that so long as she was old enough and was not a weevil there was nothing to worry about. Severus found himself telling the boy about his own experiences, how he had made a fool of himself insulting Lily Evans; and told the lad he hoped that HE got his head in order at an earlier age that he, Severus, had done. And found himself assuring Zabini that he might always write or ask to speak by floo. Zabini seemed grateful for the man-to-man talk as he thanked Severus for his time.

The flame flickered and returned to its normal colour; Severus frowned. Poor kid; he was a victim. And it seemed as though he finally realised it. Could he have fallen for one of Gorbrin's sisters? It would explain the suspicion of potioneering; Gorbrin was a fine potioneer…. Well, maybe Lydia and Mimi would be able to tell him about it at Yule.

The weather continued mild into October and Severus encouraged the children to get out as often as possible; they would be shut up inside for a greater part of the winter after all.

The school also arranged a trip to see the caves that had been discovered a few years before and had been opened to the public by the muggle visitors; Severus having talked to the tour guides and arranged for the school to go round the day after the official closing date so that the children did not have to be quite so careful as if they were in front of muggle tourists. The villagers were grateful for the gift of tourism both from the caves and the rack railway that brought in railway enthusiasts and were happy to fall in with Severus' suggestion. Severus had put it to them that having a school loose might put some visitors off; and the guides had to agree, though the Prince Peak children were nicely spoken and well behaved children; and they were even more impressed over the way Severus himself carried the little boy with the wheelchair and the child's friends manhandled it up to the entrance cave singing some foreign song that went with a swing as they heaved.

The Song of the Volga Boatmen had been a suggestion of Vya and Beta; and went down well.

And the caves held their own magic of beauty in the coloured and mysterious stalactites and stalagmites that delighted the Prince Peak children.

"Oh sir, we must decorate the Hall like this for Yule!" said Yrdl, awed "If we host the Triwizard ever, it would be a grand way to impress the other schools!"

"Indeed it would" said Severus "You may make a project of working out how to do it; you should be just in age for the next Triwizard."

Yrdl's eyes glowed.

She would love to represent her school and her wonderful headmaster!

The school returned after thanking the guides prettily for staying open one more day for them. And most of them had no idea that the caves could be reached from secret tunnels under the school; for that was a marauding secret, and the ways into the school tunnels were covered by the fidelius charm set to have more than one secret keeper to allow it to be passed on so that the death of one secret keeper would not open the secret.

The school could, if it became necessary, be evacuated that way.

And even if Severus doubted that Odessa was likely to be any more threat one never knew what emergencies might arise in the future.

The last really exciting activity before the weather broke was when the Lowther twins dared each other to emulate the exploits of the Malfoy twins and go broom-surfing. Peter stood successfully on his broom and balanced; and Fred stood for an agonised three seconds, flailed wildly, and fell off.

Peter craned to see what had happened to his twin and found out the hard way.

Madam Mandrake the school nurse tutted over the various broken bones and issued Professor Snape's version of the skelegrow potion that encouraged the growth of bone at the site of breaks; and she was stern enough that the miscreants quite forgot that only last year she had been a scatty sixth former.

Rosamund Mandrake was re-taking OWL Transfiguration this year in the hopes of getting the 'E' grade required to train as a healer; meanwhile she was perfectly adequate at making potions for healing and indeed at chanting to enhance the effects, as she proceeded to do.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Much better thank you" said Peter "Mind you I can't say that anyone would notice the difference for twin, he fell on his head so nothing vital got damaged."

Rosamund opined that if they were well enough to start a poking match over that comment they were well enough to stop skiving and get down to their potions class where doubtless Professor Snape would have a word or two to say on them missing his pearls of wisdom over their juvenile idiocies.

As Professor Snape used almost precisely that terminology, save that he referred to the incident as a piece of puerile poltroonery the twins might have wished to have missed a few more of his pearls of wisdom; but took it with stoicism.

"It's going to take more practice than I realised" said Fred "And not really QUITE as much like riding a skateboard as I thought."

"We'll get there" said Peter. "Then we can teach the kids and SUCKS to Hellibores next time we play them!"

It was perhaps as well that Severus had NOT been privy to that little post mortem of the broom-surfing.

The competition for the Hallowe'en party this year, that kept the pupils occupied throughout half term was the most ingenious carving of a pumpkin into a lantern; and the insides were to be kept for pumpkin pie and were collected by castle elves before too much happened to the removed insides. The first and second years were issued with partially hollowed pumpkins to start them off; the middle school and above were expected to use _diffindo_ with more skill and finesse than the younger ones.

Randolph Wright was an artistic boy; and by skilfully adding a bit of pumpkin to the outside of his lantern for a nose as well as carving it away he managed a fair portrait of Severus; which he planned to enter into the 'most scary' category on the grounds that if you had misbehaved, the head was about as scary as anything in the world possibly including Voldemort who was too unimaginative to use anything but the cruciatus curse and never came up with such refined cruelties as gutting horned toads.

He delivered this explanation with such a cheeky grin the staff laughed; and awarded him joint first with a fanged monster produced by Emil Villeneuve. It was a remarkably skilled piece of work; and was one of the lanterns photographed by Elsie Blackwood for the school magazine that she and Emily Grant were joining forces to create. It was an unlikely pairing, sporty Emily and delicate Elsie; but Emily admired Elsie's brains and Elsie admired Emily's energy.

The second prize in the scary pumpkin category was Victor's, that he claimed was Fifi La Folle, having carefully carved away the rind so it hung from one end in curly strands of mad hair; and third was Roseli Accola's tiger.

Most original was AHHa's castle; and most decorative went to Henik, who had carved his as an abstract pattern of interlocking spirals pierced in places for the light.

The party then went with a swing, bobbing for apples in the usual way, and playing a game wherein the names of varieties of apples were presented in anagram and the pupils had to unravel what they were.

Then there was the feast; a groaning table of hog roast, applesauce, buttered vegetables of all kinds, with pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pumpkin juice ice cream to follow.

Professor Snape was voted to really know how to run a good Hallowe'en!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The Snapes, their wards and sundry staff enjoyed a relatively private breakfast the day after the party, it being a holiday and the school granted permission to have a buffet breakfast and slope off for the day – under prefect supervision if below the fifth form – as the weather was fine.

An owl arrived for Professor Percy Weasley who made a sound of disgust and threw it at his brother Ron.

"'Sup?" said Krait, who never stood on ceremony with any of the Weasleys.

"Oh, now we're possessed of a new nephew called Ronald Golgo and mum's got a bout of grandma-itis" said Percy.

"Oh, Garjala's popped has she? Jolly good" said Ron.

"RON!" said Hermione.

Ron was laughing.

"She's written to Percy that it's about time he brought home a nice girl and thought about getting married!" he chortled.

"If I was you I'd write back that you were so busy boffing three sixth formers that you don't have time" said Harmony Bloom surprising herself as much as everyone else, for being normally very quiet; and then blushed furiously.

"Here, young Bloom, with a roseate hue like that I think I ought to ask your intentions towards my brother!" said Ron.

Harmony blushed still redder.

"I – there isn't – I mean I'm not.. I don't HAVE any intentions!" she managed.

"By Merlin girl, if you've got my poor innocent brother pregnant and are ditching him I'll know the reason why!" declared Ron.

"Leave her alone Ron!" said Hermione.

Harmony was scarlet.

"I – it's FUN being family and being teased" she said "Even if I DO blush!"

"Here, can't I have a say in what three sixth formers I'm supposed to be boffing?" demanded Percy. "Not that mum would believe it; or – oh Merlin's bedsocks, if she did, she'd likely apparate out here to read me a lecture!"

"Tell her ye have a hopeless passion fer me dad and it's a' ye can dae tae no' wrastle him tae the floor o' the potions dungeon" suggested Seagh.

Severus clipped him across the back of the head with two fingers.

"You're all loonies" said Percy.

"It's taken you this long to figure that out?" said Sirri tartly. "Harmony you're a bad girl; and I'd LOVE to see Molly's face if he did write that back!"

Harmony grinned a little sheepishly.

She was the only person taking History to NEWT and Percy Weasley had taken the expedient of holding their class in the staff room where people might be in and out so there was less suggestion of impropriety.

Harmony would not have minded a little impropriety.

Professor Weasley was kind and really nice and had such a wonderful way of bringing history to life; and because they could accomplish so much more in a one-to-one situation they diverged on all sorts of side tracks exploring the motivations of people and playing 'what if' games with history.

Percy Weasley was staring at Harmony with a look of sudden revelation on his face. Harmony blushed, dropped her eyes, and then peeped back at him.

"All right, quick burst of 'don't do as I do, do as I tell you'" said Severus crisply "TRY not to get too carried away until after your NEWTs are over."

Harmony tried to look innocently at him and failed miserably.

"He always knows" said Percy "Even if the rest of us didn't beforehand. This is damnably embarrassing."

"That's all right, we're all family" said Krait. "Why don't you two make up a picnic and bugger off somewhere private?"

"I don't know that that's a good idea" said Percy "The proprieties…."

"I doubt she's going to let you rush into anything and so long as you don't get her pregnant before Yule it won't interfere with her schoolwork" said Krait. "What?" as several people sighed "So I'm earthy; the practicalities count. Congratulations both of you, go away and be starry eyed at each other some place where it doesn't put the rest of us off our kippers."

"Nothing romantic about kippers anyway" said Dione.

"Too many bones" said Ron, to be poked by Hermione again.

Percy laughed; and he was blushing too.

"Shall we take their advice, Harmony?" he said.

She nodded.

Percy took Harmony's hand rather awkwardly.

"I wasn't really looking for anything you know" he said "I didn't realise actually how much I really like you…. Besides, it's not the sort of thing I should let myself think about as your teacher."

"I….. you're just rather special" said Harmony. "So clever and knowledgeable and so….. well so in tune with the people in history; compassionate about the idiots."

"That, my dear, is because I've been an idiot myself" said Percy "And I almost lost my family through it; almost got used by Deatheaters. So I suppose I feel tolerance for people too obsessed with a silly ideal to see the big and beautiful truth, that nothing in the world matters except the people who love you."

"It was for me a revelation to find out that people COULD love children" said Harmony "When Severus swept into my parents' home with a wizgamot custody order in his pocket, and whisked me away. At first the idea of being safe and not likely to be scarred for life by stray spells was enough, but to feel like I belonged…. And Jade was so kind to me. But I'm not part of the blood group because Severus and Krait don't draw people in unless they sort of butt in; or are Marauders; or need a blood link to protect them. And I never quite liked to ask."

"Funny you should say that" said Percy "I've often wondered if I should suggest my blood support – since I've been out here I guess, I didn't know about it until I read Sev's book and understood it. Should we ask?"

Harmony nodded.

"It'll come to a head soon over Odessa; especially with Jade setting off fireworks at the base of the whole rotten structure in her own inimitable fashion" she said.

Percy laughed.

"These ruddy Malfoy women are indefatigable!" he said "Almost as bad as Hermione – you needn't tell her or Ron I said so."

"Oh Ron's a Marauder; they're supposed to be even braver than brave to take on the odd dragon" giggled Harmony.

Percy grinned.

"And I'd rather work with m'brother Charlie in Romania handling dragons then take on Hermione!" he said with feeling. "Harmony, I – I think I'd sort of like us to get to know each other socially as well as sharing interests in common…. You love history the way I do, but we need to explore each other more….er, I mean…" he blushed. Harmony grinned.

"Fortunately Percy I DO know what you mean and we don't have Ron here making fatuous and risqué comments" she said.

"He's a toerag" said Percy cheerfully.

"I can't possibly agree out loud to that; I think calling a professor a toerag is a hanging offence" giggled Harmony.

"All right, I shan't expect you to agree out loud" said Percy "Actually I hope you wouldn't agree without thinking with anything I said; I find women like that depressing."

"Oh I might in public to back you" said Harmony "Even if I spoke my mind in private. Depends on the situation I guess."

He nodded.

"Like the Snape ménage bicker happily over meals and present a united front to the world" he said. "I'm not sure if I love you yet; but I do like you a whole lot. We need time to adjust; and we do NOT want to let my brother or other well meaning types push us into things before we're ready. Only….well, it can never be quite the same, and I wonder if I ought to ask for an elf to be present when we're in lessons."

"No" said Harmony. "I – I was hoping that in lessons we'll get back to the rapport because of discussing and getting interested without thinking about….about us; and then, well, us can sort of grow; and if it sort of happens in a lesson that we …. I mean if you kissed me or something….. well it could sort of happen as it happened. Sorry, that was a hopelessly badly constructed sentence; you'd threaten me with burning at the stake if I wrote anything that muddled!"

He touched her face.

"Yes I would" he said "But then, like me, your thoughts are rather muddled. And it's not entirely fair to set you eight inches on why I ought to marry you."

"I don't need eight inches for that" said Harmony "Because I've had more opportunity to watch you than you have to watch me. I only need three words."

"OH!" said Percy, going scarlet.

"You clash" said Harmony, standing on tiptoes to kiss him.

It was a rather chaste kiss; Percy had his very firm standards. But they were both happy people wandering about on the alpine meadows without noticing the weather and consequently being the only people to get caught in the thunderstorm so far from school that they had to apparate back to just outside the anti-apparating zone and were still wet to the skin when they boarded the cable-car.

The run up to the Yule Ball was in full swing with the usual attendant sillinesses.

The Muggle Marauders were complaining that they were obliged to attend this year and therefore could not be bribed by extraneous girls; but that at least there were two spare boys from Hellibores to take on big girls. Victor was uncertain who to take; but with Harmony definitely settled with Percy he decided to ask her as neither had any expectations of the other.

"And if I take Lily Smethly two years running I might give her romantic ideas" he said. "And I'm hoping to blood in too, so that makes us almost siblings."

Harmony nodded.

"That sounds good" she said. "Seagh is taking Angelica; as head and deputy, you know: and Tala has borrowed Ulrich. We're throwing James, Cenric and Gaius as wolf meat to the other older girls, as Irmi's going with Adrian and Sebastian's taking his sister as an expression of mutual distrust of the ball."

Victor laughed.

"I shouldn't mind taking Irmi – but not until I've felt what it's like to be blooded" he said "She is; I'm not. I don't want to shove in."

"Oh shove in" said Harmony "You're family; like I am. Why not ask her to dance? Everyone knows that those of us like Tala and me are taking partners of convenience because we can hardly take our professor boyfriends. You and Seagh can argue over Irmi and see which one she picks; if either. Let the kid have time to find herself; she mostly has, but she still has a lot of childhood owed to her that she's missed out on that she'll want to catch up on before she does all grown up and courting."

"Yes; and you know about that too" said Victor "At least I had a childhood without care until Walter was born; and I had a tutor and he had the nursemaid so we didn't meet much for a while. Poor little sod; I hope they'll give him a fair chance next year at Hogwarts. I wish he was coming here; my parents are stupid."

"Severus reckons it's a disease of too many parents" shrugged Harmony. "OUR generation can copy him and shun the habits of our flesh and blood parents."

"Too right!" agreed Victor.

Severus called the muggle marauders into his office.

"I know you lot" he said "It is hereby forbidden to take each other to the ball with you Lowthers in drag. The four of you are going to take Leneli Accola, Elsie Blackwood, Lily Smethly and Helga Von Strang to the ball, and decide amongst yourselves who takes whom. They're the shyest ones and shouldn't be gigglers so get out there and issue invitations."

"Yessir!" the four boys agreed. Sometimes you just did not argue with Professor Snape!

Severus was sitting in his office when he felt a blood pulse from Jade; and she turned up with a strange pair of individuals by the arm. One was a goblin missing half his right hand; the other was a human boy about her age with lank, dirty hair and a scared face. Both were ill kempt, ragged and malnourished.

"Hello my dear" said Severus, unperturbed. "Are you going to introduce me?"

"Hunnic and Walther" said Jade "They've been used by organised crime of the kidnap and punish sort in Germany; they need jobs and a bit of education. Also decent clothing and a bath" she added. "This is Professor Snape; he's harder than God."

"Yeah; the big man turned down a contract on the perfesser" said Hunnic "His top men were talking about it; and they was right glad he didn't take it because the Odessa are scared shitless of him."

"Why thank you for such a nice piece of information, good Hunnic" said Severus. "You get about your business, my dear; I'll sort out the comfort of our new trainee security guards."

Jade passed a wealth of information to her father before apparating away; about how they had been supposed to kidnap her to be raped by a troll, and how she had turned the sadistic leader of the group into a woman as poetic justice and left compulsions in the others, who were moderately villainous, to turn themselves in. She also passed on where the accommodation address was, from pictures in the minds of the villains; and asked if someone would check it out.

Severus intended the someone to be him; and took the two shocked captives to be fed, bathed and clothed under the auspices of Sirri.

He was going to be busy, because if the big man was as upper class as Hunnic's mind recalled the voice, there was a chance that he would have fingers in the German judicial system and be able to have the others killed before they could testify; something Jade had overlooked. He did not bother to enlighten her. Certainly once they started talking, it was likely that anything incriminating would be removed from the house in Frankfurt. He would go there and have a look; and he would take Seagh and lurk in feyspace.

The street was mostly full of shops and there were plenty of comings and goings. It was not a wizarding street but full of muggles; and the accommodation address was reached by a door set back from the street between two department stores, one selling clothes and the other a branch of Ikea. Severus had heard of Ikea; one of Lucius' protégé goblin entrepreneurs had come across the concept and had waxed lyrical about how one might improve upon the muggle concept of flatpacks with the inclusion of an assembling charm. Lucius was likely to become even richer on the concept and had come up with tying the assembly enchantment to the word 'ikeaa' as a magical charm, the extra 'a' to improve it arithmantically. With a magical charm adding up to eight, anything that could go wrong would go wrong, especially with a superstitious buyer.

And that was entirely by the by.

Seagh and Severus moseyed on in through feyspace to have a look inside.

The place was virtually unfurnished; several chairs in a waiting area facing a blackboard indicated that the teams sent on jobs assembled there; clips on the blackboard suggested that photos and maps were sometimes put up for the edification of the tools as they assembled for briefing. A dedicated water summoning wand was firmly chained to the wall with a number of mugs by it. The mugs were faintly grimy. The room next door had a chair and desk, a communications globe, and a small filing cabinet; large enough to hold the documents necessary for a couple of cases, no more. There was a door behind the chair; and the two went through it – literally – and ascended the stairs that lay beyond.

Here was an owl loft; empty, but with a gargoyle head bringing fresh water, the dish it ran into with an overflow to carry it to the drain. A large tray lay for the depositing of any mail. It was spotless.

Cautiously Seagh and Severus emerged into normal space.

"Someone has tae aye come and check this tae see if ony mail has come" said Seagh "Unless there's some alarm on the window that means this big yin is alertit."

"Or an alarm in the tray for when a note is placed in it" said Severus, cautiously running his wand around the window "I have no alarm on the owl window; and it's too small to admit even a goblin. I'd not think an elf head would come through it either so they have not guarded against intruders at this entrance. Let me check the tray" he did so. "Ah!" he said excitedly "Paper" and conjured a large sheet of very white paper "This is more than an alarm; it's akin to the engulfing charm. Let me draw out the Malfoy lines and lay them on the paper" and he proceeded to do so.

"We need to go home and work that out with careful geomancy, dad" said Seagh "No point hurrying it and making a mistake; or we might end up with the wrong hoosie."

"Quite" said Severus. "Let us leave the way we came; and let us check what precautions there are to prevent or at least alert the owner to intruders."

The office was the most well alarmed; there were detection spells on the floor to pick up the weight of any feet as well as alarms on the door in. Severus thought both were tied to the communications globe to allow it to be used to scry. It was well they had been in feyspace.

"And whilst ony fule might use a hovering charm if they know aboot it, forbye no' sae mony people wuid think o' it" said Seagh.

"Or at least, only those of us who are that paranoid we install such things in our own properties as a matter of course because we've survived two wizarding wars, the fey and Odessa and want to keep it that way" said Severus dryly. "I cannot detect any feyspace detection spells; not that I would expect them. Your powers, my boy, are our advantage."

"Weel, I'm glad it means ye'll tak' me on yer little jaunt, faither mine" said Seagh. "And what's more, nobody that isn't part fey or blood bonded to us can do it. Sorry, couldn't manage a' that in dialect."

"Like I was bothered" growled Severus, giving his son a quick tap on the back of the head in affectionate rebuke. Seagh grinned.

They took their Malfoy lines back to the castle and handed them over to Krait and Hermione for their perusal too.

Several arithmancers made the same answer to their location equations.

"Query; do we use the equation to apparate right there invisibly and under hovering charm then enter feyspace straight off to move outside; or do we head for the right district and do our geomancy on the ground?" asked Severus.

"Me, I'm fer the bold path of the apportation; and no' under the hovering charm either in case active spells are countered or detected; 'tis the dirrigible fart curse we're aye wanting, that's a passive spell once it's in place" said Seagh "For the effect being a'ready created."

"What about the effect of changing methane to hydrogen?" said Severus.

"Bum" said Seagh "Ah'd forgotten yon wee matter. Och, that's easy so it is; we mak' the bubble, fart intae it like mad, detach it, cancel yon changing spell and restick it. Or we cud go on broomsticks that have too tightly tied in enchantments tae be cancelled and that do not count as spells tae be negated; or we worrk oot wha the floor level is and come in using fey air walking aboon the groond."

"Excessive dialect despite I like THAT idea best" said Severus "Where someone is likely to use pressure sensing spells in one place, he's likely to use them in others too. If he has dogs we're found out a little bit."

The tingle as they apparated indicated that the place to which they were apparating had been made an anti apparating zone; and the elf blood they carried told with the elf style apparation the blood group used as a matter of course. Invisibly they arrived several inches above the thick carpet of a luxuriously appointed office; and a twin of the tray in the owl loft stood unobtrusively to one side.

The office was occupied.

Severus suppressed a gasp.

They moved into fey space within the room and quickly got out of the house.

"I felt you recognise him, dad" said Seagh "Who is he?"

"He's a high ranking member of the German Minsitry; in the German equivalent of our office for foreign relations" said Severus grimly "With access to files on large numbers of non Germans living and working in Germany, and the ability to go into almost any ambassadorial office in the Wizarding Reichstag. I'd not mind betting half the countries that support German policy are kept in line through blackmail; indeed, I wonder if he started off that way to improve his standing and then realised he could make it pay as a sideline of criminal activity and private enterprise!"

"That would figure" said Seagh. "What do we do?"

"We need to warn Jade" said Severus "I'll nip and tell Agata Bacsó; she's more or less our ally now so she has every right to know."

Agata Bacsó dropped the cup of tea she was holding as Severus appeared in her office. He caught it flawlessly with a flip of a finger and restored it gently to the table bowing.

"My apologies for rather an abrupt arrival, Agata" he said.

"How did you get in? This is an anti apparating zone!" said Agata, rather rattled.

"I'm sorry to be so rude as to overcome your wards; but this might be serious; ah, Jade arrives; I sent for her so I did not have to repeat myself" said Severus.

There was a knock at the door; and Agata called

"Herein!" and Jade entered.

"Urgent news?" she said.

"Yes; I looked up the er, big man" said Severus. He outlined what he had found out.

Jade exchanged a look with Agata.

"He'll have to be a casualty to the Odessa attack – when it comes" shrugged Jade.

Agata nodded.

"Thank you for this, er, Severus; such a man is likely to have a file on me."

"Indubitably; I was planning on stealing it and removing any sensitive information" said Severus. "Don't worry; I don't use blackmail on my allies. And I'll tell you what, if anything, I find. I've a yen to poke about in that man's files."

"And that was almost at the edge of a crude comment there" grinned Jade. "Thanks dad; appreciated."

Severus nodded; and vanished silently into fey space, grinning as Agata Bacsó agitatedly asked Jade how he did it, knowing that his daughter would provide evasive answers!

Severus had no intention of burgling the house of the 'big man' until the Yule Holidays; but he and Seagh undertook a few reconnaissance trips.

And Seagh meanwhile designed the hall for the Yule Ball. It was his last year at school; and he wanted something memorable; and as he was part fey decided to pick as a theme the ballroom from the film 'Labyrinth' because the MSHG would at least recognise it and enjoy. The decoration was in many ways quite simple; he purchased several dozen muggle Christmas tree baubles, of the best quality, all made of glass; some mirrored, some plain glass and some with bubble-like colours within the glass. Transfiguring them to get rid of the protrusions from which they would hang, he used _engorgio_ on them to enlarge them, casting too an unbreakable charm. Some of the mirrored ones he cut in half and used to line the room; and the rest were suspended in space, mirrored and crystal, some of the clear ones glowing from magical light within.

He acquired a vinyl version of the film music to play on the gramophone as some of the music, planning to have 'Within you' to open the ball.

All that was required now was to brew up a hair gel to style his hair like David Bowie – though he drew the line at makeup – and discard his formal gown for Jareth clothes for the night of the ball. Seagh liked to be thorough.

"You're a nut" said Angelica, who recognised the look "Am I supposed to look like Sarah?"

"If you want" said Seagh "You look fine to me as you are."

Angelica, with dark golden hair just short of brown, had chosen to wear a robe of rich brown velvet with a complex yet subtle pattern woven into it in gold; and the velvet too was in two lengths of pile that gave an illusion of being two different colours. It looked very good on her and brought out golden lights in her hazel eyes.

She grinned.

"White makes me look wishy; so I'm rather glad. It's not like you and I are an item or anything; and need to match. IS there anyone you fancy?"

Seagh shrugged.

"Irmi's part of our blooded group; she's a nice enough kid. Mind I think Victor's interested in her; he'll be blooding in over the holidays. I've no' met ony female wha' I'd care tae wed the noo" he added. Angelica grinned.

"You're a fraud Seagh Snape" she said "You can speak perfectly good English when you forget to be so Scots."

"Weel, forbye Ah'm no' a'ways inclined tae speak plain English" said Seagh "Though actually I'm going to be all upper class caddish and Malfoy tonight; it kind of suits Jareth" he added.

"Idiot" said Angelica. Seagh was a good friend; no more but certainly no less. And it was nice to number boys as friends and not to be embarrassed by them as she would have been on coming out without the experience Professor Snape had insisted on of the Yule Ball. She was so glad he had taken over Miss Cackle's; and though the circumstances were not perhaps very nice – one could not but grieve the kindly if rather inept former headmistress – it had been a wonderful experience for most of them. And this was her final Yule Ball; and soon she and her class mates would be embroiled in their final exams and then away.

Though it was rumoured that Professor Snape planned to open the school for post NEWT study; and THAT, Angelica thought, might be well worth considering. Not because she was afraid of the big wide world as she had no doubt were some of those girls who went to Corbin's Academy for Higher Study; but because the atmosphere of study and learning was so wonderful. Never had she ever even DREAMED she might be in a situation to be taking six NEWTs; more than many of Cackle's girls had taken of OWLs indeed; and those who had taken one or two NEWTs had been objects of some awe! And Angelica found that this only fuelled her thirst for more. And she knew she would never get an 'O' grade at chanting because she lacked the Arithmancy to improve it; and that irked her. Arithmancy had never been on the curriculum at all – too much, Miss Cackle had thought, for young gels to have to maudle their heads with – and Angelica had found catching up on other subjects enough, without trying to study alone to OWL level, since Madam Granger had not arrived until she was starting the fifth, and though the older ones were given a basic grounding, Angelica knew it was not enough to do any serious research on. She would speak to her parents in the holidays; and hope to study Arithmancy alongside learning some of the higher mysteries of chanting and ritual.

She put the thoughts aside to enjoy the ball; and to marvel at Seagh's decorations. Seagh, being Seagh, had wanted to do them all himself so the surprise was a gift to his deputy as well as to everyone else.

Angelica, like everyone else, was duly impressed; and even more so to see Professor Snape and Professor Malfoy dance up a staircase that was NOT there and into one of the huge crystal bubbles to dance.

"Och, and isnae Himself e'en mair the showman then ma ain self" muttered Seagh, wishing he had thought of it first!

Severus, Krait and Seagh went straight to Strasburg when their charges had left for Christmas; and they carried cameras, since the MSHG had included spy films in its entertainments.

They were being stealthy so Seagh only whispered a whistle of a quiet fragment of James Bond theme music before they went in; and was rewarded with a two fingered rebuke from both Severus and Krait for his pains.

They were well rewarded for their foresight; files on many people including Herzog Von Frettchen were in the possession of the minister, though strictly speaking he had no right to keep files on German nationals. Agata's own file was extensive; and Severus photographed it all and then used a potion of his own devising to erase whole swathes of the information that might prove in any way useful to someone planning to lean on her. He removed too certain letters in Agata's own handwriting. No point letting blackmail material remain; and some were open to enough interpretation to be dangerous to her.

There was a file too on Nefrita Von Strang; a report written by Frau Magdalene Meyer, the Arithmancy professor; and Severus promptly contacted Jade to warn her of THAT fact. Jade was glad to learn it; she had told her Ancient Runes professor out of friendship but agreed it was as well to be careful!

Severus got out a forging pen from Fred and George – really those young Weasleys would be devastating if they actually turned their not inconsiderable talents to serious business like spying – and attuned it to Madam Meyer's writing to add 'Fraulein Von Strang is an academic and is interested only in academic pursuit; it is unlikely that she would be a serious tool of Odessa or of any other organisation'. That ought to keep Jade out from any trouble.

They would have a lot of developing to do at home in the dark room; and a lot to analyse too.

It was kind of the German Ministry to do their job for them.

And then they examined the secret room that Seagh found by poking about through Feyspace; and in here were all the records of the kidnappings, extortion, beatings and so on.

Also files on all of those who had paid to have any such carried out.

They WERE going to be busy.

And Severus determined to slip an anonymous letter to the Justice Office to send a couple of Vehmgerichten to look for the secret room opened only by a password that he would find by legilimensy from the sleeping minister.

THAT ought to put him out of business, whatever he managed to do about getting rid of any other witnesses.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Yule was an interesting holiday.

Severus discovered that the boy Darryl Zabini had been speaking of his daughter Mimi when he spoke of a girl he was drawn to against his will – no wonder he did not want to be specific – when Mimi went haring off at one point, referring to Zabini by his first name and saying that he was upset; and the boy turned up on the doorstep at midnight, in a state of almost complete nervous prostration.

Severus fed him cocoa and Mimi came in to see him.

It appeared that Mimi had helped him examine early memories; and he had discovered that his father had died in front of him from the same cursed locket that Dimsie Burke had suffered from; and that it had been his mother who had arranged this. Darryl had since confronted his mother and she had seemed to consider it unimportant.

There was very little they could do but look after him; and as Mimi seemed to have made up HER mind, to blood him in.

Victor was brought in too at this time; and Harmony and Percy, an owl sent to ask Percy to drop in for cocoa and crumpets.

Percy knew fine well that this was a code for the blooding ceremony and arrived grinning all over his face; and the ceremony duly took place with most of the original members, because they could. Darryl Zabini was unaware of anyone but Mimi and rather awed by the famous people he was exchanging blood with; but now he was protected and Seagh and Victor were grinning inanely over being brothers, having formed an understated but firm friendship. Darryl had been offered a transfer to Prince Peak in case his brother or mother caused trouble; but he was loath to move during his exam year, and Severus could quite understand that. They would see how it went; if he wanted to come to Prince Peak for his NEWTs that would be fine.

And Jade too had been having a few problems; Von Frettchen had taken her to see the prince who had decided that Nefrita Von Strang could marry him; and Jade, being Jade had told him in no uncertain terms where he might get off and had turned him into a pig.

Rather suitable really.

Severus suggested that if she wanted to steal Von Frettchen she should let him talk her round a bit but should beware. There was, after all, a prophecy that the Jade Wolf would only prevail if not persuaded by the Ferret. Jade had scoffed, both at the concept of prophesies and at the concept of being talked round by a slippery spy; and Severus left her to play her own game.

She was good after all; and she had the blood bond so that they might heave her out at need.

He must not play the heavy handed father.

Severus was horrified when Jade reported and told him that there were some fifty sleeping werewolves under the draught of living death in addition to the ones that were in the compound.

"Merlin's beard!" he cried "It'd take all my efforts just to brew enough antidote!"

"All you can do, dad, is get the exam board to set the Wiggenweld potion for NEWTs; that'll increase the amount. And start collecting unicorn horns like they're going out of fashion too; there's bound to be someone who supplies them ethically" she said "And send out a team to search forests where they hang out to find unicorn horns. Hagrid can glean the Forbidden Forest; he has an instinct for such things. And he could use the dead place too, to search other forests!" she added excitedly "Only get Ross to disable his ruddy claymore mines first, Hagrid will never remember to look out for them!"

Severus gave a rueful grin.

"Alas, only too true" he said. "Yes; an exellent idea. And I'll go and see Von Frettchen too while he's still off balance."

"Good thinking, Batman" said Jade.

"Put your knickers back under your tights Robin" retorted Severus.

First things first; and Severus visited Hagrid, refusing a cup of tea, to explain matters and set Hagrid in motion searching for unicorn horns. Phoenix feathers would be no problem, he knew enough metamorphagi of enough power to become phoenixes and moult; taking a horn from a metamorphosed unicorn was another matter entirely. Once Hagrid understood what was going on he could be trusted to get on and do all that was necessary; Severus and Hagrid would never be friends but Severus DID respect Hagrid's abilities in his own field of expertise. Severus could leave that problem.

He used feyspace to look for Von Frettchen who also had a trace on him. He appeared in front of the German Duke.

Von Frettchen jumped. Severus had made no noise; and that was unnerving to those used to have the warning CRAC! Of apporting.

"I hear we are now approximately allies" said Severus "I have taken steps to see that enough Wiggenweld potion is brewed for the release of the other werewolves; it may take some months but things are in train."

"The initial collection of werewolves was done by a medieval wizard who wanted them available in case the muggles got too rabid" said Von Frettchen "And his descendents added to them; and handed over the collection to Gellert Grindelwald who was loath to use them. My father knew of them and told me. Gerhardt knows they exist but has dithered over activating them for want of enough potion."

"Have you any idea of the effects of the Draught of Living Death over centuries?" demanded Severus. Von Frettchen shrugged.

"None whatsoever" he said.

Severus sighed.

"Well, apart from the trauma of discovering how much time has passed, it is always possible that mental impairment has occurred, as well as loss of senses. And if you didn't know I don't suppose the twat that laid them down like fine wine knew either; even as the best wine goes off eventually with keeping, even though it matures up to a point, so too do people start to die under the Draught of Living Death. Obviously; though they are not breathing nor reacting they are STILL in need of a degree of sustenance to keep the body alive because it DOES exhibit signs of life at a cellular level; in the most basic and minute functions. No I don't suppose you DID know that; those who obstinately refuse to make use of muggle knowledge will never progress beyond second rate magicians" said Severus rudely.

Von Frettchen glared at him.

"There is no need to be so insulting!" he snapped.

"No? I find wilful ignorance and the refusal to accept learning and knowledge for some half-baked ideal whether the idea that only pure-bred wizards are any good or whether – as is believed amongst certain types of muggles – learning is for sissies the most ridiculous and wrong misuse of the brains we are given. And I despise fools. When you go out of your way to look like a fool at me, do you expect me to pat you on the arm and say 'there there, you can't help being an idiot'?"

Von Frettchen flushed.

"Your daughter has pointed out facts I did not know; I am working as your ally because I believed those facts and have had perforce to change my outlook somewhat. I cannot be expected to have assimilated all the facts in the world about muggles and what they know; it's enough of a shock to realise how many there are!"

Severus nodded.

"Yes; you are right and I apologise. You are trying to learn; that is enough to lift you from being a fool into a wise man. I am angry – angry at the ignorance, the WILFUL ignorance of generations that has left the likes of you ill informed and unable to make a balanced decision because of that. And you are fair game to shout at."

"Because we are in many ways equals; yes, I understand that" Von Frettchen calmed down and nodded; he understood. Snape had the instincts of a gentleman.

Severus grinned a rather nasty grin.

"And I would not have been permitted Durmstrang; my father was a muggle" he said.

Von Frettchen stared in shock.

"I – I had no idea!" he said.

"No; because you are blinded by the convenient lie, that only those of pure and near pure blood are any good" said Severus. "Well, well; you ARE having your popular misconceptions tweaked! I can't say I hope you're enjoying it because I'm far too malicious not to enjoy the schadenfreude of your discomfort. I'm not as charitable and compassionate as Jade; not that such will stop her being utterly ruthless. I'll drop in on you again from time to time; nice to meet you old boy" and he moved smoothly back into feyspace.

He had Von Frettchen's measure; the fellow really was a man who believed in his noblesse oblige; and THAT would be his saving grace and the angle to work on.

Severus went next to see Horace Slughorn.

"Horace, I need to ask you to set a particular potion for NEWTs" said Severus "And it's for a valid reason; and I'll put no more time into teaching this potion than I normally do."

"I've never known you to do something as a favour to any student" said Horace "Why on earth should you want such a thing?"

Severus outlined the plight of the sleeping werewolves; and Horace stared.

"But the chance of intellectual impairment, the loss of faculties!" he cried "Why on earth were they not revived periodically?"

"Because German wizards are crass, stupid, ignorant, self-satisfied and consider that potioneering is the poor relation of the arts of magic" said Severus.

Horace snorted.

"Preposterous!" he said, his walrus moustache bobbing in outrage.

"Yes; but to the Germans very, very simple" murmured Severus. Horace would not pick up on the film reference; but it amused Severus.

"Holy cow, Seagh, I just reduced an entire railway carriage of muggles into offended silence!" crowed Rory Staines at the Zurich train station.

"And juist hoo did ye achieve yon worrrk o' impeedence?" said Seagh.

"Well they were playing some piped music because we were broken down somewhere or there were sleepers on the line or it was the wrong sort of electricity; and I remarked it was the sort of musack that made ABBA meaningful; and this stuffy old bird said that she LIKED ABBA and I said, well there was no accounting for tastes, some people liked Marilyn Manson; and she said in a huff that there was no comparison and I said, well I supposed both could be associated with failed teenage love affairs and too many spots and there were two Goths young enough to listen to Manson and several people old enough to like ABBA and so I managed to offend the lot of them!"

Seagh laughed.

"Ye're a wee terror" he said.

"Who are these people of whom he speaks?" asked Angelica. "And cut out the Scots blether!"

"ABBA are a group of four people; the name of the group is their initials. They did songs old people listen to; they're a bit like the Weird Sisters, you don't actually WANT to listen to them but once someone starts one of their numbers you can't help hearing it in your head" Seagh resorted obligingly into an English accent "And Marilyn Manson is a silly sort of bloke who shrieks rather than singing and uses obscene lyrics for the same sort of reason that wee Sevnev says things like 'bottom!' or 'Poo!' to create effect because he's terminally childish and appeals to the like minded."

"I almost wish I hadn't asked" said Angelica.

Rory's cronies arrived at this moment looking rather the worse for wear.

"WHIT hae ye been up tae?" said Seagh "Yer looking mair like urchins than yon group o' local brats jeerin' at posh kids!"

"Well you see, it was because we had to rescue Randolph" said Peter Lowther.

"His parents had discovered some of his text books and hit the roof" said Fred "About him going to some insane school teaching mumbo-jumbo and not learning art like he said he was; though he IS learning art too. And they locked him in his bedroom; and we were the nearest so he pulsed us and we used brooms to get him down because that isn't wand work, and we lowered him between us and as much of his stuff as we could get in rucksacks and we cut and run."

"Weel get along onto yon train ye wee deils and I'll have ma faither go and confund them" said Seagh.

Seagh pulsed Severus as a request to have a link opened; and told him everything. Severus sighed.

"I'd better go and see them" he said.

"Aye, weel, when ye turrrn up in yon sitting rroom they'll have nae choice but tae ken that it's no' mumbo-jumbo" said Seagh in satisfaction.

"Randolph has told me enough about you to realise that you have little of his welfare in your hearts" said Severus scornfully to a pair of frightened parents; for he had apparated directly into their house in front of them at the breakfast table as they discussed taking a tray to their son. "He reached school this morning in company with friends who rescued him from being shut in to a room where no sanitary facilities had been made; in your law that counts as child abuse and I could report you to Social Services. He has a remarkable talent that YOU cannot understand; and a remarkable talent for art too that needs nurturing. With his skills he'll easily pull in a wage that's more than both of yours put together; and if he wishes to ask to be my ward, as under OUR law any schoolchild is entitled to do I'm willing to fund his education because I know he has the honour to pay it back for the education of another needy child in the future. I can make you forget you had a son – which by all accounts you seem to do half the time anyway – or you can stop making difficulties about his necessary education. He IS a wizard; and he IS going to use his talents. You can do this the easy way and be proud of his achievements or I can do what I think is right for the boy and use ways and means to make sure he doesn't have to come home to you. Choose."

"Why didn't you tell us about what this – this – THIS was all about before he started your school?" asked Mr Wright.

"Randolph told me that he had started to explain to you that he had been told he had an unusual talent that would be nurtured at a new school and that he had been offered a place" said Severus coldly "He said all you were interested in was the fees so he could be packed off to learn enough to make you able to boast about his skill. You never asked him anything; so he told me that he knew where he was de trop and stopped bothering to try. He told me you were too wrapped up in yourselves to care about him; witness that I find you slathering over each other and not even aware that he's fled your house in the night, not checking if he's all right; if you take away what a kid cares about, in vulnerable teenage years, why without his friends he might even have committed suicide and you busy slobbering over each other and not caring if he's alive or dead, sobbing in humiliation because he's had to pee in the corner of his room or worse because you didn't even leave him a bucket when you locked him in, not caring if he's suffering dehydration because you didn't leave him any water when you locked him in almost twenty four hours ago. That's child abuse and NO court would dispute it. So, are you going to continue to pay for him to go to school and put up with not understanding his lessons, or am I going to have him taken off you, because I have enough clout in your social services that I can get custody of him? Lovely figures you're going to look dragged through the newspapers as child abusers; oh yes, and you get to go on the registry even if you escape a custodial sentence."

They stared aghast; this was a threat they understood better than threats of magical retribution.

"We didn't MEAN to neglect him!" whispered Mrs Wright.

"And if he died of dehydration or burst bladder for fear of soiling his room I don't suppose he'd have meant to be dead" said Severus sarcastically. "Well? The easy way or Social Services?"

"I – but how will he get a job if he isn't learning proper subjects? We have to protect his interests!" Mr Wright tried bluster.

"Protect his interests? I see nothing you have done yet to protect his interest!" sneered Severus "That's the most fatuous piece of specious rhetoric I have ever heard. He will have any job he cares to go for waiting for him in OUR world; and as a TRAINED painter a highly paid one in that sphere; painting pictures in our fashion is a highly prized skill and not common. And if he does not want to paint for a living, there are plenty of schools who would fall over themselves to get someone as talented as him to teach; so don't talk to me about him not getting a job! Now, easy way or hard?"

"We'll do what you want for him" said Mrs Wright "We do love our son! We just didn't want him conned with some mumbo-jumbo….."

Severus turned the teapot into a large brown rat; which squeaked in sudden surprise and then fled the table as Mrs Wright shrieked.

"DON'T call the Art mumbo-jumbo" he hissed.

"I- I'm sorry!" her voice was almost inaudible.

"Good; I'll expect you to have the rest of his school books and uniform, his cauldron and potioneering kit and his broom in or tied to his trunk within two hours; a school elf will be coming to collect it" said Severus. "And I hope I don't have to come and see you again!"

"So do I!" said Mr Wright fervently as Severus apparated away with a loud CRAC!

Seagh meanwhile had more worries to contend with; a large Swiss lady was chasing Rose Hubble shouting that the girl had her trolley.

Seagh stepped forward.

"Stop right there young Rose" he said "And do stop running away from the good Hausfrau who wants her trolley back."

Rose looked at the trolley, realised that it had no school accoutrements but rather a large parasol and a parrot in a cage on it and said,

"Oooer! I say, Snape, I have no idea how that happened! Anyway, how was I to know what she was shouting about? Her foreign's all peculiar."

"The lady has a strong alpine accent I grant you" said Seagh grimly "But even YOU can manage to translate 'achtung' in any accent, can't you?" he turned to the sweating lady and went on, in faultless German, "My deepest regrets, ma'am that one of our dreamier elements not only took the wrong trolley but is so far in a world of her own she did not notice your pursuit; permit me to wheel your trolley for you to the correct platform."

"That's all very well, young sir, but what if I now miss my connection?" said the puffing female.

"I shall ask my friend here to telephone to the office and apologise and ask them to hold it for a minute" said Seagh, nodding to Angelica.

Angelica was fairly sure she knew what he meant and clicked her fingers for a school elf the moment the hausfrau's back was turned, sending him to delay all trains.

An elf would manage to do that efficiently enough; it might create a bit of a muddle on the railway for an hour or two but English trains never left on time, so what could really happen if the European trains were a bit less delayed then English trains always were?

Angelica was blissfully unaware of the machine-like precision with which most European trains ran where a few minutes delay meant a possible logistical disaster to untangle it; it did not occur to her that the elf could probably tell which train the woman wanted by taking her ticket magically from her pocket and checking.

Fortunately the train had not left nor did it seem to be in any way delayed; and having seen the lady onto the train, Seagh clicked his fingers.

"You can let the train go on time" he said.

"Yes, Master Seagh; and the others?" asked the elf. Seagh stared

"Of course and the others!" he said "Why did you stop more?"

"Mistress Angelica said to!" said the elf.

Seagh groaned.

"Not your fault" he said "Juist let the puir wee beasties go on their way."

"You are a prune, Angelica" said Seagh, without malice "Did it no' occurrr tae ye tae tell the elf tae find oot wha' train yon body wis taking and juist stop that one?"

"No" said Angelica "It doesn't matter does it? Trains are always late."

Seagh groaned.

"Never mind" he said, resolving never to suggest Angelica have anything to do with trains ever again!

Hester Figg had meanwhile found Rose's correct trolley and brought it back to the Prince Peak waiting place and sent Rose through the wall with it.

"I swear Hubbles get worse with time" said Hester.

Fortunately the rest of the journey was concluded without mishap; and Randolph was delighted to find his trunk waiting for him at the other end with an elf in attendance.

Severus took the boy to his office and explained that he had made serious representations to his parents.

"I shouldn't think much less than turning them into goldfish would make them take notice" said Randolph sadly "They don't really want me; I was the sop to an aged uncle who wanted to leave money in trust for the education of a great nephew named after him. They don't want me but they don't want me to do what I want with my life!"

"Oh I threatened them with worse than being turned into goldfish; I threatened them with being turned in to Social Services, if you'll pardon the pun" said Severus "Seagh picked pictures of your room from your thoughts; that you had no water to drink and no toilet facilities. Child abuse. Once I had their attention the rest was easy. I think they mean well by you, they're just not capable of producing it."

"Oh I expect that they wouldn't want harm to come to me" said Randolph "Is that child abuse? I thought it was just them forgetting that when a chap's locked in he can't visit the bathroom and that I must go thirsty or risk having my wand broken to summon water."

"Oh they forgot – they forgot to provide you with the basic amenities and dignity of life; and almost the full day round without water in a hot stuffy room would have left you seriously ill of dehydration even if you'd pee'd on the floor to deal with that discomfort" said Severus grimly. "If it was done to a dog, the local populace would have lynched them. They hadn't been up to see if you were even alive when I got there" he added.

"Gosh!" said Randolph "I say, do I have to go home for the holidays?"

Severus sighed.

"I'd write to them and ask permission to spend the Easter holidays in school to go walking" he said "It's a fair request; as to the long holidays, perhaps the Lowther twins will have you for a while, and Rory's grandfather; you should see them once a year even if only for a couple of weeks. You can always come back to school early; send me an owl and I'll arrange transport."

"Thanks sir" said Randolph. "May I go now? I bet my trunk's in a muddle."

"Yes; run along. Under the circumstances I shan't mark you dormitory down for tardiness or first night untidiness" said Severus.

Poor little boy! But how well he had handled himself; pulsing just the twins because they were closest, not even calling on Rory who would need to be dragged over half the country; and not thinking to call on Severus himself because with the twins to help him he could escape! Severus was somewhat reminded of Harry, who had been very self sufficient and never called more on his friends than he thought he had to – which was, in Harry's case less than he should have – and who had learned to be self effacing. As Randolph had learned to be self effacing. Severus sighed. Children would never be any trouble if only some of them didn't have parents!

Like little Walter Crabbe whose parents had not even realised that he was becoming a monster; who found his desire to torture animals and hurt his brother somehow, inexplicably, cute and amusing. And who wanted their little boy to go back to Hogwarts next year, being substantially cured, rather than, as both he himself and the boy's brother had suggested coming to Prince Peak as a smaller school where nobody at all knew he had been any trouble, where he might be more easily accelerated to his proper peer group in age and where Victor could keep an eye on him.

He was entitled to go to Hogwarts and that was all they cared about because he must uphold family tradition in Slytherin House.

Severus hoped rather viciously that the cure might cause the child to end up in another house just to bewilder the parents; and too for the boy's sake, being in a different house to the one in which he had behaved so badly. Though the youngest groups of Marauders would go out of their way to help him – even U-may who had been an intended victim of his – it would surely not be comfortable for him!

Still, that was not his problem; and Prince Peak was.

Sandalla found the reason Rose was being scattier than usual after the first night feast when they rose to go to their common rooms.

"Oops" she said "If you go up to the bedroom to change I'll walk behind you to hide it. Svetlana will come too."

Svetlana nodded.

"Hide what?" said Rose "Has someone cast something nasty at me?"

"The blood" said Sandalla.

"Blood? What blood?" demanded Rose.

"Well, I presume, my dear nutter, your period; is it the right time?" asked Sandalla.

"OOOH!" said Rose "I don't know, I've never had any!"

"Well let's get to the bedroom and sort you out" said Sandalla.

Sirri intercepted them.

"Now then girls, you're not supposed to be going to the bedrooms yet" she said "As well you know."

"Rose has just started her period, please, Sirri" said Sandalla "Svetlana and I were going to help her clean up and sort herself out 'cos she hasn't had one before."

"All right; you're sweet girls" said Sirri "I'll see to Rose; you hop off to the common room, I'll take her the quick way."

"Thank you Sirri" said Rose meekly.

Sirri apparated with Rose to her dormitory and sorted her out, tutting that her mother had not arranged sanitary protection and fetching some of her own for the little girl and showing her what to do.

Really, thought Sirri, the Hubbles were even more scatty than the Weasleys!

With Rose made comfortable and popped to bed with hot milk, a hot water bottle and a good book – now she had moved, Rose had a tummy ache – Sirri went to buy her the necessary accoutrements and wrote a Howler to her mother.

Sirri did not consider there was ANY excuse for a mother to let her daughter go to school without warnings of what might happen and equipment to deal with it if it did happen. It was NOT as though Rose was a babe in the first or second year who might be considered unlucky to start her periods so young; but even so any sensible mother warned her daughter and saw her well prepared!

Sirri found Severus very receptive on the subject of idiot parents; and they went to tuck up their own offspring with Krait and Dione just to prove that all their children were healthy and happy; which as Sirri said could be evidenced by the amount of dirt in their baths, since happy children were also usually dirty by the end of a long and joyous day.

And as the oldest two, Tarquin and Sevvy, were looking unwontedly angelic, Severus sighed and asked if it had been the staff who had been treated to apple pie beds or the prefects.

They gave him identically innocent looks despite being unrelated by blood – Tarquin being Severus' cousin he had adopted and Sevvy being Sirri's son by Dobby – which filled him with even more misgiving.

"Brats" said Krait "If you've done something horrid to the prefects, be aware that Seagh will doubtless have something to say about it; and if it's the staff you've done it to, you'll both be clearing it up – whatever IT is."

Sevvy giggled.

"It isn't an it" he said "We dropped a babbling curse to operate on the senior common room."

Severus heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well if they can't deal with the creative mischief of two nine-year-olds they don't deserve to be seniors" he said.

"At least Irmi, Elsie and Sebastian are capable of lifting it" said Dione "I wouldn't answer for any of the rest. HOW cursed was it?"

"Not as much as if we were as good as Lilith" grumbled Tarquin.

"Brats" said Severus. "Well, I shall pass that way and see if they've managed to deactivate it."

"If anyone can actually notice the difference" said Dione.

In point of fact the three Dione had named had managed to pull off _finite incantatem_ with enough aplomb that the shakily chanted in curse fell apart.

They were discussing the possible culprits when Severus came in, after knocking politely.

He was a stickler for proper usage in common rooms.

"Look no further than my own preschool brats" he said "Sorry about that; glad you've sorted it out."

"Oh well" said Irmi "I expect they'll get the same treatment from little Ralph and your younger children when they're our age; so I guess we should take the dignified course and ignore it. If it had been those hellions in the second we should have HAD to respond of course."

"Naturally" said Severus solemnly. "Though if I was you, I'd let SOME measure of disapprobation show; drop a tickling curse on them for a couple of minutes or something. I was going to let the victims perform the discipline."

"Very well sir; but I think we'll just curse their pyjamas not to unbutton or something until they say sorry" said Irmi.

"An excellent idea" said Severus "I'll be sure that they know that if anything goes wrong, saying sorry will probably fix it."

As if having schoolchild japes wasn't bad enough , the younger ones must needs join in!

Still, it meant that Tarquin and Sevvy at least were doing their own planning and were feeling their oats as pranksters in their own right, rather than just following headlong where Lilith lead; and that had to be good.

And they did not fear him to confess their misdeeds; and that had to mean he was doing something right as a parent.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

As term settled down in its usual poor weather and indoor activities, with odd forays into snowy bright days, all those of the Blood Group stiffened as they felt Jade washed with the Killing Curse. Scars burned suddenly white, startling the pupils of those who were teachers, and the friends of those who had the scar. There were enough that Jade was able to shield it from those who had not yet acquired the scar; and Jade was radiating anger and concern; though the concern was not for herself. The blood group felt her draw on them, then felt another young mind join them as a bloodkindred, and felt Jade's call for their joining to aid this child.

And then Jade was icy cold, and preparing to do something permanent to some threat or other; and quite confident that she needed no help to do so.

They would find out about it next time Jade contacted properly.

Jade later contacted Severus and told him that Hedda Schrempf had decided to take out anger on one of her fags – Jade had collected several fags to protect them – and had not cared that the spells she cast would have actually killed the child without blood magic.

"I shall bring in her sister and sundry others to have a group at Durmstrang" said Jade "And start Marauders here too. I thought in the hols; we break up a day after you so we could make it that last morning for my people here."

It made sense; and Severus agreed. If Jade had picked people to blood with, they would be suitable; or at least suitable enough that the knowledge of a blood bond and a whole new family would help to overcome any minor quirks that were not usually considered good traits. He trusted her judgement.

The dancing classes started to while away Saturday afternoons and evenings; of the new ones, Lucy could dance, and so too could Cerellia Yaxley. Severus pointed out that it was a good way to keep fit as well as a preparation for the time when they were old enough for the Yule Ball and Lucy pointed out that dance could aid with serious chanters. This enthused Liriope Hallow who found she was good at chanting, and only stopped asking how it could help when Krait told her that it never would unless she actually applied herself to Arithmancy.

Not that being squashed quieted Elephant's Child for long and Hermione found herself pestered with how to use Arithmancy in chanting.

Fortunately Hermione was happy to become quite technical and if Liriope felt rather mentally bruised from the encounter she was, if no wiser, at least better informed.

Henik was delighted to be taking part in the dancing lessons; he had never even expected to walk, now his muscles had strengthened to the point that he was allowed to dance, if not for as long as the others at least he was allowed to dance! He revelled in it and when Ortensia moaned about having to turn out to do exercise he told her seriously,

"You should be pleased that you have always had full use of your limbs, Fraulein that you have the option to do as all may do or to be as lazy as you choose; but I think that being lazy is ungrateful to the limbs that bear you."

"Well I do not much care what a nasty little…. guttersnipe like you says!" said Ortensia, mindful that racist comments were frowned upon.

"How very lowborn of you to comment in so unfavourable a way" said Sylvana "Henik shows himself to be your superior in manners and the instincts of a gentleman however low his birth; YOU use the language of the gutter of inclination and so display that you are the one who is a guttersnipe, Ortensia. You shame the rest of us."

"But I do not understand!" cried Ortensia "I have looked up your pedigree, and you are pure blooded; why then do you support THAT and shout at me?"

"If you have to ask that it proves so truly that you are not a lady" said Sylvana "Because a lady has no side. I think that is the correct English phrase. All who are mannerly, to a lady are the same; only those who unmannerly are should be given less than perfect niceness. Henik a gentleman is in his behaviour; you a lady are not."

"Ortensia is niculturniy" squeaked Beta.

"What Sylvana is saying in rather over excited and mangled English is that you are rude and rudeness is to be looked down upon" said Lucy in what she fondly hoped was a Malfoy-like drawl.

"And I cannot counter that your German not so hot is on German days because your German impeccable is" said Sylvana ruefully.

"Well I have lived out here for years" said Lucy mildly "And I don't speak Italian at all so Ortensia is at a disadvantage therein. Only, my good ass, you have some strange priorities; we don't actually care that much about purity of blood here, nor about race; only about decent manners and academic excellence. And you don't precisely shine in either respect. You shirk in prep and you are just so going to irk Severus – uh, Professor Snape – for sulking visibly in his class since you tried to bring in a self-stirring cauldron. He's obviously holding his temper in check when you slump at him and droop like a dying daffodil in a thunderstorm."

"I will tell that you used his first name! Surely you do not hope to be his mistress so young? If it is so, he is disgusting and I will complain!"

Lucy stared, then laughed.

"What a poor prune you are!" she said "Professor Snape is my guardian; I use his first name out of school as my brothers do. And I am supposed to remember not to in school; same as his children are not supposed to call him 'dad'. And mostly remember not to do so. Go ahead and tell; I shall get told off snippily for being informal. Tell lies about me being his mistress – and how ridiculous is that at my age! – and you can go to prison for slander."

Ortensia looked frightened.

"I am sorry I did not mean it" she said hastily. "I did not understand that you were his…. guarded one."

"The term is 'ward'" said Lucy "Very well; you spoke in haste. And I say, Ortensia! If you think someone my age could be someone's mistress, and you know someone who thinks it's all right, you should tell a grown up, a lady professor say, because such things are wrong, and if anyone's doing anything you don't like, you need to tell about THAT, because that's an important thing to tell about if anyone at your home is so rotten."

Ortensia stared.

"No, I have not had anything done to me" she said "But I have heard that the village professor likes very young girls to do things with him. It is why my parents want me to come away to school."

"They know then? Why have they not reported it?"

"Why should they? He has not touched ME!" said Ortensia.

"Don't you think that's rather shallow and selfish?" said Lucy, scorn creeping into her voice.

"No; because I am the one that is important to them. Why would they care about poor trash like the daughters of those who work for my father?" she said.

"WELL!" said Lucy "I try very hard to bring you in on things and to show you how life works and then you prove you are a completely self centred little cow to whom other little girls your age don't matter in the least."

"Well not if they're poor" said Ortensia. "The poor are there to be used in whatever way the rich and powerful desire. That is why I do not understand why a penniless creature like this Henik is being paid for to come here."

"Possibly because, if Henik and Arbrek will excuse my terminology because the language is limited, Arbrek's father has more humanity than you or your family" said Lucy. "It makes me hope your family loses all their money because money is all you have and all you find important because you're so damn shallow. Henik is worth a dozen of you; he has more brains, more stickability, more courage and more manners. I'm sick of trying to be nice to you; you bleat like a goat about things you've considered as deeply as a goat can manage; so if you ever speak to me again I'm going to reply by bleating back because I might as well have done all along, because you don't understand plain speech."

"Well how rude is that?" said Ortensia.

"Incredibly" said Lucy "And the first thing an English lady learns is when to stop being one. Maaaaaah!"

Lucy ran off to Severus to report what Ortensia had said of the village professor.

Severus sighed.

"I shall contact an Italian Aedile; their equivalent of Aurors" he said "And pass this on."

Severus proceeded to use the floo to contact the justiciary office of the Italian ministry and explained that this had been mentioned by a little girl whose veracity on certain points he doubted but who he had no reason to doubt in her mentioning this to others of her peer group; though she might very well have misunderstood.

"I'm trying to be fair to both sides" he said "Because she is not very clever and nor is she particularly well aware of how the world wags; she is a protected rich child with very little knowledge. But if she has overheard her parents discussing why they wanted to send her away to school she might have heard and reported the truth. And I should be failing the little girls whose fate she does not care about because they are poorer than her if I did NOT pass on even so nebulous an accusation."

"Signor Professor, this we shall look into" said the Aedile he was speaking to "I do not like this child you teach already; I am not a rich man and I have children coming up school age. But even less do I like child spoilers."

"Go easy, if I may say so; she has SOME knowledge of improper behaviour; she heard my ward use my first name – as all my wards do, boys and girls alike – and all but accused her of being my mistress. Fortunately my ward has heard a few stories and knew what she was getting at, and is also a level headed child not to be upset by it and to find it merely rather amusing as a concept. And had the sense to ask how come this other child knew about such things."

"How does your ward come to know about such things?"

"She and her brothers are not my only wards; in England I was the head of a house, a father figure, and I was told many shocking stories. It is inevitable that children growing up together, once the fear and the danger are past, will confide in each other" said Severus. "Besides, if my wards and children are knowledgeable in principle, they then can alert me of any child they are in school with mentions something they should not know about. Lucy and her brothers were beaten on regularly; and that is one of the least abuses a professor sees. I have seen cursed wounds caused by children being in the way of quarrelling parents, and one child impregnated by her own stepfather having been passed off by her mother as her sister. I have seen a child beaten and treated as a slave because she was supposed to be a squib; and if she had been a squib that would even so not have been right. The child was a late developer; went to school at thirteen, caught up, and took four NEWTs. I've seen it all, Signor Aedile."

The figure in the green smoke nodded.

"I hear the anger in your voice" he said "I had to ask."

"Quite" said Severus.

"I will see what I may find; and I will look carefully too into the background of this Lollini family. It may even so be that she has learned about such closer to home; and I shall be asking, if the parents discussed the risk to their daughter, why then did not THEY report it? What have THEY to hide?"

Severus grinned.

"I rather hope that they splutter and try to fob you off so you have to pull them in for questioning; the child learns her attitudes from her parents of course. Have fun with them!"

"I shall endeavour to do so; though of course I hope it is all a, how you say, a unicorn's nest."

Severus sobered.

"Yes, so do I; but I fear that improper relations ARE a village crime" he said. "I'd be interested to know how it goes."

"I shall keep you informed" said the Aedile.

The first were brewing water repelling potions to use on umbrellas and rain coats; and having more or less success. Lucy had, not surprisingly, made a good job of hers; as she said cheerfully, having been raised by Professor Snape and family she had practically been reared in a cauldron. Zoë Gesler managed to make hers rise of its own accord and stick to the ceiling; and could not say what she had done wrong – it took Severus two days to work out that she had used three cloves of garlic not three cloves – and Ortensia had made hers perfectly acceptably except that she had made ten times as much as was required.

"Miss Lollini, can you not read the ingredients?" asked Severus "What were you thinking of? You have made enough water repelling potion to cover a dozen tents! I am not sure we can use all that; just leave it in your cauldron and if I cannot decant it I shall get rid of it."

"The amounts given seemed too little" said Ortensia "And I am not familiar with the English measurements."

Severus sighed.

"You have had a term and a half to come to grips with them; and there are conversion charts on the wall" said Severus "Or you could have queried the measurements given; though as it is a potion I have been teaching for many years, odd as it may seem to you, I think I might just have noticed if there was a mistake in the text book by now and had it altered; or told you to alter it. But what do I know? I'm only the most experienced potioneer in the world with twenty-three modifications to potions published in my name and four original potions published."

Ortensia flushed at his sarcasm. Severus had tried hard – because he did NOT like the child – but some things were just too much!

She was NOT going to let him use her potion for any of his nasty tents, so there!

As soon as Severus had dismissed the class and they were packing up, she poured her potion down the drain.

The smell started pervading at lunch time; and Sirri reported that the toilets were all flooding.

Severus went to investigate and performed Scarpin's Revellaspell to find out where a reverse flow curse had been placed by some errant child with more imagination than good sense.

He found no such spell; but he did find traces of water repelling potion.

He went to the dungeon – flying over the foot deep flood – and discovered that Ortensia's full cauldron was now quite empty.

He returned to the hall where people were gagging.

"Miss Lollini" said Severus quietly but in a carrying voice "Did you, after I told you to leave your cauldron, pour its contents down the drain?"

"Yes I did! I didn't see why you should use it!" said Ortensia "But I can't THINK in this stench!"

"Dear me; that's a shame" said Severus "Because it's all your stench. Come back to haunt you."

Ortensia stared.

"I haven't done anything to the toilets!" she said.

"Oh? What was in that cauldron FULL of potion?"

"It was water repelling potion; what you told us to make!" said Ortensia.

"Exactly; water repelling potion – enough to stop a river in its tracks – poured down the drain. And consequently pushing all water – and anything mixed up in it – backwards" said Severus "I am going to brew at time and expense a counter potion. And, incidentally, since the ingredients belong to the school, by deciding to dispose of the contents with intent to permanently deprive – you didn't see why I should use it – you are also a thief as well as stupid. Why I should use it is because it is my property my girl that you have misused. And when the flood abates, while the others run about outside in watery sunshine, you will be assisting the elves by mopping up the detritus your sad and inept effluvium has produced. The noxious, nephritic and cacaceous odours will, perchance, concentrate your mind."

"But – you can't make me!"

"Can't I? You have made work for the house elves. If you do NOT help them YOU can't make THEM feed you or wash for you; and if you are wearing unwashed clothes for the rest of the term you'll start to smell more than a little yourself my girl. I am required to see you get basic food; that can be balanced with bread and dripping and an apple for every meal. Flout my authority Miss Lollini and you will NOT like the consequences. I will also expect you to apologise to the whole school for causing this miasma of fetid feculence."

"I – but how was I to know what it would do?"

"Miss Lollini, if you are trying to convince me that you are so half witted as not to realise that a water repelling potion repels water, you should not be in a school but in an institution for the incapable" said Severus. "I never heard such a ridiculous excuse! You will tell me next that you are surprised that a shrinking solution reduces something in size! Now go and put on some old clothes – the elves are finding you some – and be ready for your duty. This place is not fit for habitation and I have a potion to brew!"

Ortensia did NOT enjoy her punishment mopping up the smelly backwash of the toilets; she had been given a potion to prevent disease – as had all the elves – and one thing she enjoyed least was being scolded by SLAVES for being a naughty and silly little girl not fit to live with decent folk. The elves – not all slaves if Ortensia had only cared to notice that many wore clothes – did NOT mince their words. Even the ones who had not wanted to be freed were learning a measure of independence and were not pleased to have all this extra work.

After it was all cleared up – and Ortensia was even more put out that most of the professors mucked in to help and did not make a fuss as she was, since the detritus had to be concentrated before an _evanesco_ spell got rid of it – the girl was permitted to take a hot bath.

And at supper Severus explained that there was nothing but bread and cheese and such cake as had already been cooked because the elves had not had time to do anything else but clear up; and called on Ortensia to apologise for all the trouble she had caused.

"Everyone here is rotten to me and stupid about the things that matter in life and I want to go home!" said Ortensia "And I've got nothing to be sorry about, it wasn't my fault I wasn't warned what would happen!"

"My good kid, perhaps you ought to have your wand taken away from you because nobody's warned you that if you point it at your own leg to cast a spell you might get hurt!" said Krait derisively.

"You WILL apologise; or I shall leave it to the school to make their disapprobation felt as only school children can" said Severus. "And you owe me an apology for misuse of school property; and if I do not get such, your father will be billed for the same."

"He can afford it" said Ortensia.

"I hope you can afford the shame of having to pay for your thieving" said Severus "because I shall make it clear to your father that such is WHY he is asked to pay. You will apologise by the end of the week; or you WILL be going home."

"Good; I WANT to go home."

"Miss Lollini, I am not speaking of merely going home as at your request" said Severus quietly "I am speaking of expulsion; with your wand broken as you cannot be trusted to handle magic responsibly. Being sent home in disgrace; I suggest you think very hard before you accept that as a punishment. I can't say that I really want you at my school if you can't learn to be a decent person with a little bit of moral fibre and a little less selfish dishonesty of spirit; but if you are prepared to apologise and try hard, I am prepared to meet you half way."

"You are unfair! You hear him! He is unfair!" cried Ortensia almost sobbing. She had tried lying about her feelings for those rotten goblins to avoid trouble, but this was too much!

Kate Grant of the third stood up.

"From what I've heard from the warts and weevils, Lollini, YOU are unfair; you do not try to be nice, nor to learn that there's more in life than your father's over-inflated wallet. Wealth does not a lady make; and I do hope you don't apologise because most of us are fed up with types like you and would like you to be expelled."

"It needed saying" said AHHa.

"You should ponder deeply, Ortensia, and realise that your values are wrong" said Silvina Brewer seriously "I too made such foolish mistakes; I am much happier now I know more. If you wish to learn to change I will help you."

"I don't want help from any animal lovers!" said Ortensia with venom.

Silvina reeled back.

"Your spontaneous offer does you a very great deal of credit, Miss Brewer" said Severus "And your friends and the staff know that to make it took courage; and appreciate it. Sirri, please take Miss Lollini to the hospital wing to consider her rash and rather unfortunate stand."

Sirri almost had to drag the girl away. Severus sighed; he did not think that this one would change her views once she got home as Silvina had done.

And he very much feared that she would be going home in disgrace.

Ortensia had to be dosed with glumbumble juice when she cried herself into hysterics; and though Krait came to chat with her quietly she merely declared obstinately that she wanted to go home.

After the three days had elapsed to the end of the week, Severus sighed, broke her wand, and sent for her father to remove her for thieving, lying, racism and being a disruptive influence.

Signor Lollini tried to scream and bluster at Severus; who had had enough and turned him into a parrot and told him that he might thus remain until he had calmed down.

There are very few things as silly to have to be as a parrot; and after a nasty bout of shrieking he sulkily calmed down; and duly departed with his daughter.

It was sad; but that was parents for you.

Severus was glad that he had a pleasant announcement to make the next day.

"Hellibore's have challenged us to a quidditch match" he announced "And as they gave us hospitality last time I have offered hospitality this time to them."

Seagh chuckled. The 'hospitality' had started off as non-existent and had been cobbled together in a hurry; now they at Prince Peak would do the visitors proud to show them how a first rate school entertained visiting sportsmen!

"The wee sumpfs reckon the noo that we've no' Jade as seeker that they micht have half a chance against us" he said.

"Frankly old boy, I'm afraid they haven't a chance" said Cenric "Having seen the standard you people play to; of course having an international ref to help out a one-time professional coach and the occasional lessons from Viktor Krumm do help. Like you take lessons seriously; it's a bit of a shock having to actually DO something or be in hot water. I feel half disloyal saying this but Hellibore's is frankly not the school Prince Peak is; and I hope some day to go back there to teach, having learned what standards truly should be."

"THAT is loyalty" said Severus "The desire to improve your old school. I hope the old… er, Professor Hellibore…. Lets you."

"He's aware that pupils from Prince Peak outperform his, sir" said Cenric "And he wants to know how and why; and I'll not hide that he asked me to find out. I take it you would like some real competition?"

"I would" said Severus "It hurts any teacher to see bright, capable youths failing to achieve their full potential because their faculty let them down; I know it has taken me many years to achieve a good standard as a teacher, and that my first few years teaching did NOT equip all my pupils as well as I might. But one can learn; whatever handicaps one temporarily is labouring under."

"Sir?" asked Cenric. Severus gave a grim smile.

"Being Voldemort's closest adviser whilst betraying him to Professor Dumbledore left me snippy" he said "Or as those of the second currently in detention for the disgraceful hair-raising potion fight might say, snippier."

There was rueful laughter from the second who had needed to be de-haired from various unlikely portions of their body when Batty Dubois had added hair-growing solution to their hair-raising potions and had started matters by flicking some at BaHH while Severus had left them to deal with an irate Italian.

Things had gone rapidly downhill from there and the second had let off steam very satisfactorily over the tensions of an expulsion, except Antti Laakkonen and Eve Cherrytree who had fled the hairy carnage with the intent of finding a grown-up to tell.

Punishment given and accepted – the translation of a certain section of Asterix the Gaul into Latin – the second felt, in general, much better for the affair.

"Well sir, if the second team will give us a practise game in the week the first team will be ready for them next weekend" said Victor "We seem to be coming to the end of winter; and frankly it's high enough here to be above most of the weather."

"Yes; and very nice that is" said Severus. "And so I shall tell Hellibore if he is dubious; after all his school is on a lower mountain than ours and suffers from the weather blowing up from Lake Lucerne. Who's in the first team?"

"Fred and Peter Lowther as beaters – it seems to be the traditional thing for Weasley type twins to do" said Victor "Arbrek is seeker of course; I think he's potentially better than Jade though he's still inexperienced. Kate, Angelica and Seagh as chasers, I'm playing Keeper and I'll play Ulrich as reserve because he's the best all-rounder, and Cenric as second reserve for chaser."

Severus nodded.

"It sounds a good team" he said "Second team?"

"Reinulf Grindler and Fred Visick as beaters – there MUST be something in the name Fred that the arithmancers should study that makes them good beaters – Rose Hubble as seeker, because on a good day she's brilliant even if on a bad day she crashes; Emily, George and AHHa as chasers and Sandalla as keeper."

"Quite a height difference – apart from Arbrek" said Severus.

"Can't be helped sir; apart from the Lowthers and Emily, the fourth and fifth fly like old women with too much shopping" said Victor. "Emil Villeneuve is reserve; he's another good all rounder but hasn't settled himself into a position he likes best yet. And I hope next year's intake are a bit more hopeful because the first might as well take up knitting instead except Elephant's Child."

There were the obligatory cries of protest; but not very vigorous ones. None of the first were really that keen on quidditch except Liriope.

The second team took their task very seriously; it was their job to give the first team as good a game as they could to test and prepare them to play the visitors. Rose flew like a demon and ended the game by snatching the snitch by the length of her hand from under Arbrek's outstretched grasp; only to find that the first team's chasers had eluded the second team's beaters and keeper with more success than the second team had managed to do with their own chasers; and the first team won by twenty points.

"That was a damned close run thing" said Victor "Played you kids; you were inspired, and gave us what we needed! Thanks – and I have to say, any success we have against Hellibore's will be as much your victory as ours. NOT that I should count a victory before we play the game; their seeker might be both good and lucky and get the snitch before we can score fifteen times!"

"It was a jolly good game" said Sandalla "We've been doing better since Cenric put together a third team to give us all different people to play, and to bring on people like Liriope. And I say, Victor, it was a rotten dig about knitting because if you encourage Sylvana and Zoë I reckon they'd come on well enough."

Victor laughed.

"Yes, having some lessons from the other Viktor inspired them somewhat" he said. "And Professor Ron is a fine coach too."

The teams were looking forward to the match; and when the boys of Hellibore's arrived blinking slightly into blinding sunshine from the cablecar – Hellibore had decided to fly his boys to the bottom of the mountain as they could then follow terrain, since he lacked confidence to bring them above the clouds – they were greeted by members of the first and second team and taken courteously to a dressing room set aside for them, and juvenile guides then brought them forth for light refreshments before the game.

Every Prince Peak child knew their task; Seagh had spread it about that the visitors were to be overwhelmed with hospitality and politeness and treated as tenderly as visiting royalty to rub it well in how shabbily they had behaved before.

If most of the players did not notice since they just enjoyed the sensation, and had not been part of the school team for that last match the quidditch master DID notice and ground his teeth. And Seagh's cup ran over at the man's expression.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The match began!

The teams started by shaking hands with each other; and some of Hellibore's boys froze at being expected to shake hands with a goblin.

Victor had warned Arbrek to act as though nothing was wrong and to look as though he did not take issue with any reluctance but to thrust out his hand cheerfully and firmly.

Arbrek had nodded at this wise advice; any suggestion that he felt there was any reason for them not to shake hands was to give them reason. He smiled with hearty and English-style cheerfulness and hid the internal seething at the rather tentative and hurried shakes some performed.

"Are you so short of good players that you must play HIM?" asked Hellibore's coach.

Ron looked surprised.

"Our seeker? Why it is not unknown that a young seeker is played if he is particularly talented; Harry Potter played for his house in Hogwarts from the first year; as did Draco Malfoy. Arbek is in the second, and has more experience than our talented first year as well as having talent himself. He's better than Jade Snape, whom you might recall, if not so experienced of course; but that comes with playing matches. I shouldn't be surprised to see Arbrek capped by his country one day. His youth is immaterial you know; we are not concerned by it, so you do not need to be."

This neatly whipped the rug from under the games' master's feet that Ron pretended that he must have been objecting on grounds of age; to make an outright racist comment was NOT politic. Ron had honestly forgotten that his friend Draco did not make the team until the second year, on the bribery of brooms from Lucius to overcome what had then been a Slytherin custom as it remained in Ravenclaw.

"I see you're not playing Cenric Grant" said the visiting games' master.

"No; he didn't make the first team" said Ron, who would not have asked the youth to split his loyalties in any case. The casual comment had the desired effect; and the visitors actually shifted uncomfortably. David Fraser blew his whistle for the players to mount up and take position; then the game was underway!

Hellibore's boys were competent players; but they did not have the competition that Prince Peak did, not having a second let alone a third team. It had never occurred to them. The school team played knockabout matches against volunteers.

Prince Peak DID have an advantage of having an international quidditch referee ready to help out the school coach; and the advantage that both Ron and David were enthusiasts who had bought themselves enough animated quidditch figures to play through different tactics on the tabletop, to the heavy sighs of both Hermione and Ellie.

That the staff would also put together a team to test the first team also helped; and Severus had fielded such for a scratch match after the victory over the second team. With Ron as keeper, David and Percy as beaters, Krait, Dione and Anett as chasers and Severus as seeker the first team had received a severe hammering. That all the staff were also blood group had helped, perhaps; but the idea was to stop the first team getting too cocky. Half the staff team too HAD played against Bulgaria's national team once in a friendly; and they had also played – for more serious stakes – against the fey.

Victor had considered it a valuable lesson; and as head of games had explained to his team what a privilege it had been to be beaten six hundred and fifty to three hundred by such accomplished players.

His team agreed; and if the school had thought Professor Snape cool before, his performance as seeker had raised their feelings to definite hero worship.

If Fred had not clipped Severus on the funny bone with a bludger, he might not have been inspired to quite such dashing play; but any man with a clipped funny bone is going to want to retaliate in some measure. And Arbrek was fooled by the Wronski feint pulled closer than any of the spectators had seen it pulled by any save Viktor Krumm himself or the great Harry Potter; and the snitch was won by the staff.

And Victor and his team reflected on that game and were glad that the staff had held nothing back to give them that practice; and prepared to take on Hellibore's as though they were flying again against the likes of the staff team.

It may be said that the boys of Hellibore's did not know what had hit them. Fred and Peter and Victor denied points; Kate, Angelica and Seagh racked points up. For Angelica it was another chance of sweet revenge for her grandfather's failures to her that she should be fit; and indeed fitter and better than the boys she played against. Every one of the first team belonged to the MSHG and ran daily; or in inclement weather either did extra dancing or kung fu.

In a time out – one of Hellibore's chasers had been caught and knocked from his broom by a bludger – the captain asked Victor,

"Hey, your types are cheering for a kid named Grant – you're not playing Cenric, who's that?"

"His kid sister; she's in the third so she's had almost three years to learn how to play quidditch properly" said Victor coolly; the captain having been one who had drawn back from Arbrek.

The Hellibore captain was saved from having to make reply as the whistle went to resume play; but he was simmering!

Miles Grant was playing for his school; and was amazed at how good his little sister was, better than Emily, a couple of years older even! Why, Kate had every chance of playing professionally at this rate! He had shaken hands heartily with Arbrek without even noticing that some of his fellows had held back, and wished him luck; and hoped, as a beater, he would not be responsible for causing any lasting harm to so slight a child if his bludger contacted. It did not stop him playing up however! As he needed to do; the Prince Peak chasers flew like demons! Frantically Miles tried to stop the goals being scored. It would help if his counterpart played as a partner to him instead of treating the game like a competition between the both of them. That was the difference, he reflected; the Prince Peak kids were a team, one unit; not one of them trying to look good but all of them working together to achieve, the chasers passing smoothly, generally passing to the boy Seaghsron Snape who Miles found an enigmatic character; as he seemed capable to getting the quaffle through the hoops from impossible looking angles left handed or right. Angelica Hellibore was a very steady passer; and good at jinking out of the way of bludgers too. And Kate! Good grief she wasn't going to – she WAS! She was standing up on her broom casually tossing the quaffle through again for yet another score, and then dropping flat onto her broom to avoid the bludger he HAD to aim at her, sister or no; not that Kate would thank him if he had held back. That was another time out; the Hellibore seeker down now. Miles had noted that the beaters for the Prince Peak team put effort into protecting their seeker; leaving more work for the keeper, but he seemed quite capable, flying the lazy eight defence, and ready to drop with seeming ease into that defensive posture known as the starfish and stick; indeed at one point Victor hung from his broom by the ankles to field a quaffle, swinging straight up again with a strength only possible with the rigorous physical training the MSHG now took for granted. And then he was broom-surfing too! Miles was not to know that the Malfoy twins had put Victor through some rigorous broomnastics over Yule in case Prince Peak got a fixture against Hellibore's; but Victor had loved every minute of it!

Arbrek was enjoying himself if feeling a little frustrated that he had not yet had a chance to get the snitch. It had buzzed by quite close to him but the Hellibore Seeker – the supercilious captain – had at that moment been hit by a bludger and there had been a time out. Arbrek did not grudge that; the opposing seeker had obviously seen the snitch too and was a little closer; and Fred – or Peter, he could not tell in the heat of the game – had also seen the snitch and had decided to help out by stopping either of them getting it. They were certainly alert; with eyes it seemed everywhere, and a bludger from one of them had knocked aside another bludger aimed at him. Peter – he was sure it was Peter who had the slightly higher voice, Fred's having broken – had yelled to Arbrek to go it;

"You worry about the snitch, Luke WE'LL worry about the fighters!" he said.

It was a joke about the film they had seen in the MSHG that the twins were always quoting; Arbrek had never come across Science Fiction before but he liked the lightsabres; and it illustrated how muggles WANTED to believe in magic, even though they made it into some kind of mental power supposedly explainable by their science that just hadn't been discovered yet. It was the fact that many muggles wanted to believe that had given Odessa so much ascendancy over a muggle organisation of the same name; but on the whole, Arbrek thought it was nice that a lot of muggles DID want to believe.

"Hey red five, there's a bandit on your tail!" called Fred.

Red Five was Luke; that was him! Arbrek did a neat broomover; and there was the snitch crossing from left to right below him. Height is speed, speed is distance, Arbek reminded himself of the mantra Viktor Krumm had made him learn. Was it enough height? The other Seeker was on a parallel path….. Arbrek accelerated, taking a risky path that would take him right past the snitch if he missed it. He held onto his broom with his left hand letting his right clench and unclench a couple of times. The snatch en passant; he had practised it over and over, the tactic Viktor had taught, that would fool the opposition into not realising what you were doing if you seemed to be aiming further ahead; would take them further away from the snitch even than you if you missed….. and then his long goblin fingers were closing on the whirring fluttering wings of the golden snitch, holding it up; and David Fraser was blowing the final whistle!

"That's a shot in a million kid, let's blow this thing and go home!" called Peter.

"The Force will be with you – always!" called Fred.

Arbrek grinned and made his broom rock like the visual representation of the Force being with Luke.

"Yer a' a bunch o' nutters" said Seagh "Ah am the master!"

"Only a master of weevils, Snape" chuckled Peter.

The Hellibores were NOT laughing.

They had lost by an ignominious seven hundred and seventy to two hundred and ninety. Arbrek pulled a rueful face when the score was announced.

"You mean I could have just gone to sleep and let him catch it and it would have made no difference?" he said in disgust.

"Oh it makes a difference" said Professor Ron quietly "It's a moral victory; and it squashes that ruddy stuck up racist of a seeker of theirs and good, the git!"

Arberk realised that Professor Ron was truly angry about the attitude of the visitors – some of them any way – to actually lapse into language he would never usually use if he knew his pupils were listening!

"Some of them are decent, sir" he said.

"Yeah; the Grant boy and the keeper" said Ron. "Well, let's smile sweetly and make like we ain't gloating as we shake hands. Nice play; good teamwork. Don't get cocky."

The Prince Peak team were magnanimous in victory, thanking the visitors for a good game and hoping that they enjoyed it; Angelica managing to pull out the line about it being the taking part that was more important than victory. Her grandfather did NOT appreciate the sentiments but had to act as though he did. Angelica beamed with angelic sanctimony as she knew his heart filled with gall and wormwood.

It had been already fairly filled, since Severus had politely applauded every good move made by the players of either team – mostly Miles and the keeper for the opponents– and had remarked how well Mr Grant and the keeper had managed to play together and what a shame it was that Professor Hellibore had had to substitute his other beater recently who seemed less capable of teamwork.

As the other beater had played exactly as long as Miles, being like him in the upper sixth and picked at the same age, Hellibore seethed gently.

"Jolly fun game Professor Hellibore!" said Ron heartily "Perhaps another time your second team might play ours; we only have a scratch third team as yet, but early days for the school still of course! Our second team isn't bad, lost by a very narrow margin to the first last week, but we've been playing the older but more erratic seeker with the second team; on a good day she can fly almost as well as Arbrek, but you know how it goes!"

"We don't have a second team" said Hellibore through gritted teeth.

"I say! I do apologise!" said Ron "Then congratulations for getting together a team from so small a school; we're quite big now, we've around eighty pupils, we're growing all the time!"

Hellibore gritted his teeth again. They had three teams with eighty pupils; he had one with fifty five. And HIS numbers were dropping. He forced a smile.

"Yes we are a little smaller than you" he said evenly "But we are considering opening our doors to pupils from other European countries as you have done. We have a few American pupils of course, whose parents want their children to have an English education in a nice small school; and of course they come to us knowing only Quadpot."

"A barbarous game" said Severus "But then, when you consider that America is the only country to go from barbarism to decadence without the usual intervening period of civilisation it almost makes sense."

"They are rather brash" agreed Hellibore. He only took Americans for economic reasons "One has to try to civilise them."

"Oh quite" said Severus.

The visiting team had extracted Gaius Paddock from his fellows, as he had come into Prince Peak for the Sixth Form to find out how he found it.

Gauis answered truthfully that he found the work a sight harder than what he was used to, and had needed remedial studies because of having missed certain points at OWL level studies.

"I'm managing to keep up though, because the rest of the class have been very decent about sharing old notes with me, and talking me through stuff I haven't covered" he said "I – I did wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew, but I appear to be doing a lot better than I was at first. I'm taking five NEWTs which is a bit above average here I think, though it might be because most of the class are Cackle's girls and Victor – he's the keeper, he came here from Hogwarts last year I think – says they're a bunch of duff lemons."

"How many NEWTs is this Victor taking?" asked one of the team.

"Seven" said Gaius. "He's only expecting to take 'O' in three or maybe four but he's straight 'E' with the rest; but he reckons that the difference in the kids coming up the school is visible, that the ones taking OWLs NEXT year should show an average as good as Hogwarts. It's rather exciting; and also jolly nice not to have the chagrin of one's younger brother gloating that he's got significantly higher qualifications than oneself. I think it would pay Professor Hellibore to sack some of his older fuddy-duddies and get in bright new teachers who can teach us modern theory so we know what the exam questions are talking about. I don't think Professor Quails has ever heard of Waffling logic."

As the other quidditch players – apart from Miles – had also never heard of Waffling Logic they wisely did not comment! There was indeed much angry silence; since a Hellibore's boy was considered remarkably good if he was taking four NEWTs; and only the Grant boys had been permitted so many. Most thought they were doing well if they took two.

"So how many OWLs is that next sister of yours taking, the one Snape poisoned?" asked the Seeker.

"Oh the fairly standard ten" said Miles "And I don't expect she'll get high grades in many of them. Six are compulsory so they can follow their interests with another three or four. There's three kids in her class she says are taking eleven, and as many only taking seven; and somehow I don't see Kate taking more than eight or nine. Em's got a really clever friend who she tries to study with as far as she can; kid was ill for years and had nothing to do but read."

Miles had managed to pull nine OWLs out of his less than adequate education; and was studying hard for the four NEWTs he was taking, using text books recommended by Severus in the hopes of getting better grades. He was also studying Arithmancy to OWL level in his own time and planned to ask Professor Hellibore if he could sit the exam although it was not one usually entered by the boys of Hellibore's.

"What potions does he brew to make them able to study so much? He must be cheating!" said the seeker.

"Look here, Tiler, if I were you I'd withdraw that comment" said Miles "Because making a suggestion like that is slander; and you are over seventeen and an adult; and to accuse a schoolmaster of something that damn serious is pretty contemptible."

"Why should I withdraw it? Nobody can achieve such results without cheating!" said Tiler.

"So you reckon that Dumbledore is cheating too?" said Miles, coldly "I'm afraid, as you've made the accusation in front of one of the Prince Peak students – Gaius here – and called him a cheat to his face, and won't withdraw it, I'm going to have to go to Professor Hellibore; so I don't get tarred with your slanderous brush" his face was set and white "And Gaius must report this to Professor Snape."

"What, sneaking?" sneered Tiler.

"No Tiler; reporting a crime" said Miles "I warned you; you are adult. Taking away the character of another, especially another in a responsible position, is a crime."

"Oh come on – who cares what I say about that gobbo-lover?" sneered Tiler.

"Any of the parents whose children you accuse by extension of getting their qualifications under false pretences" said Miles "Don't you GET it? You're slandering my sister and my brother Cenric and Hellibore's granddaughter and however many others!"

Tiler went pale.

"Well, I don't blame them for what he's doing!" he said.

"YOU FOOL!" hissed Miles "You ARE accusing them; no kid is going to be unaware if they were under a potion that improved their faculties! And when it's proved that there is no such potion YOU go to Azkaban! I'll tell you the extra magic Snape uses; because he gave me the key and I'm applying it to my studies! And the key is to use textbooks that aren't fifty years out of date, to read extra texts on the subject, and to put in three to four hours study every night! If you spent more time studying and less time bellyaching about things you'd have higher grades too; and you might notice I've been getting straight 'O' grades since I've been studying harder except the time when I gave an answer to old Quails that was beyond his understanding! Too late, Tiler; you've attracted attention. Skip to Professor Snape, Paddock; I'll see the Old Man."

Hellibore listened to Miles' report; Gaius went along with him and nodded confirmation for Severus.

Severus turned to Hellibore.

"Engelbert, your boy makes a serious accusation. As you are neutral I demand that you use the Revellaspell on all my exam students; and a random selection of others. I also demand that you question me under veritaserum about such an accusation with your sports master present as a witness as well as one of my senior staff" he said.

Hellibore paled.

"The boy is not serious, I'm sure!" he said. "Miles, surely it could have been left?"

"I am though" said Severus grimly "Such a whisper, however flippantly made, could ruin the reputations of any graduates from this school as well as mine; as Mr Grant has realised. He is aware of the terrible blight this could have on ALL the students at this school; including three of his own siblings. If you believe this whisper I demand that you call in the Auror's office here and now. As it also devalues your own grandchildren's achievements; all of Angelica's OWLs, the NEWTs she takes this year; and the boys' exams of the future."

"Of course I don't believe it, Severus" said Hellibore waspishly "Why, it is ridiculous; your integrity is as legendary as your nasty tongue! Very well; let us have the two exam classes in a classroom, Miles, pick random children as well. And bring that ape-brained idiot Tiler too" he added venomously. "I don't have any veritaserum, Severus; and if you have, it could become suspect. I DO however know the babbling curse; and if you will release your shield in private I will not speak of anything irrelevant you say but will sign an affidavit to the effect that I am satisfied. Will that do? Time enough to call in the aurors if that young fool Tiler will not make as public a retraction as he made the accusation and writes you an apology."

"It will do" said Severus.

Hellibore cast the Revellaspell on each of the examination students, concentrating on potions in their system; and commented acidly that so far all he could find was that two of them had taken pepperup potion within the last few days.

He and Severus retired into Severus' office where Severus, questioned under the babbling curse explained in great detail how proud he was of his students for the way they worked except the three lazy little cows in the lower sixth and how disappointing it had been to have to expel that nasty little girl Ortensia and how nice it was to have willing, hard working kids like Henik and perhaps he would stop taking any paying students and just run on examination and scholarship and he wished at times he could turn the Tugwood twins into sheep because they had as much sense.

As Hellibore had taught male Tugwoods he actually sympathised with that sentiment!

He declared to Tiler that so far as he could see, any nasty minded accusations about Professor Snape had originated only in Tiler's festering and nasty little brain and that the boy would make a retraction AND write a letter of apology to Professor Snape and to the exam classes for trying to bring them into disrepute.

Tiler protested.

"How CAN they achieve such results though sir?"

Hellibore lost his temper at this point.

"Because I've been too soft on the lot of you for years because I run a school for idiot rich brats who pay for the privilege of going to a smaller, softer school than Hogwarts; and because I employ old boys who are out of touch because I am sorry for them because I have placed the old school tie and snob value over educational excellence! And I shall be making a decision about whether I shall continue to cater to rich idiots who haven't the brains to pass the new DOE exam without a wand up their backsides or whether I want to teach to the level Snape and Dumbledore teach to!"

Tiler stared, open mouthed.

"You mean you don't think it's unnatural?" he asked.

"MERLIN'S TROUSERS BOY! Are you so stupid you have failed to hear me say just that in many different ways?" Yelled Hellibore. "Now you apologise and get me those written apologies or I expel you because I don't want to be tainted by your loose and foolish tongue and charged with slander by association when Severus Snape calls in the Auror's office to investigate your smutty little allegations!"

"Oh! I'm sorry sir; all right!" said Tiler, much abashed.

His written apologies were not especially literate; but they would at least serve to show any parent that their child was NOT being accused of cheating if the story got out! And both headmasters heaved a sigh of relief and Severus broke out the elf-made wine to soothe both himself and Hellibore.

"Some children" said Hellibore.

"Especially when they're young adults and their brains haven't caught up" said Severus.

"If they have any" said Hellibore sourly.

Severus had never liked Hellibore more than when he lost his superior guard and showed himself to be as human as anyone.

"Actually Severus, I've made up my mind what to do with my school – if you're ready to help me" said Hellibore "I am not going to try to compete with you; as I understand it, you're planning on taking only those with outstanding talent of some kind; musical, or academic or whatever. I run a school for rich kids most of whom are stupid. I need however to cram them more; and have more up to date teaching methods. The crunch is that I can't afford to. If you will invest in my school I can take the rich brats you don't want who traditionally come to school in Austria or Switzerland; and I can see that those who need more get the education they need. I – I'm not as clever as I thought; and you have a talent for getting the best from children. I'm teacher enough to recognise and acknowledge that; at least I am when I'm tipsy."

"Will you take the posh dim girls too?" asked Severus.

Hellibore considered.

"It would require extensive modifications….. yes, I shall. It makes sense. It appealed to my vanity to cater to the tender and not too bright children whose parents wanted them out of England safely; it was easy to shut eyes and ears and to refuse to see all the terrible things that were happening. But with Odessa, I can't afford to do that; the rot is too widespread. I can at least cram some knowledge into the brainless. And – you see, I don't like to sack the old boys who are teaching; or even the younger ones who have been my father's pupils!"

"Pension off the old ones; I'll pay for that as part of the improvements. Those young enough to be having a laugh at your expense must take their own chances. There's giving someone a hand up and there's being exploited. Yes; Hellibore's Academy for young magical ladies and gentlemen has a ring to it that will appeal; it should turn a profit. And Miles did well enough in the Triwizard to show your top pupil as a contender. I suggest you either make it your last Triwizard or hope to get the odd one who's competent enough to look good who prefers to be in an academy than to rub shoulders with poor kids with talent and with goblins. Some of your boys did NOT like shaking hands with Arbrek."

"They came close to being rather rude" said Hellibore "Tiler has about as many brains as a guinea pig but fails to be as cute. He's struggling through a NEWT in History in the hopes of working in the ministry."

"Hmm, well, I doubt he'll affect the average intellect there much" said Severus. "If we work in conjunction, if I have a kid who is miserable because they can't hack the standards I shall expect I can transfer to you; if you discover a child with hidden talents – and you'd be surprised how many parents have no idea that they have children who can draw superbly, say – you can transfer to me. You get the social kudos and I get the pleasure of seeing that quirky abilities get nurtured. It could work very well. Tell me what you need; Krait is loathsomely rich. She got her hands on everything Voldemort amassed and that's quite a pile; his muggle father was very wealthy and gold spends in both worlds."

"Nice that you don't have to worry" said Hellibore with an edge "Another thing I have to resent about you; as well as your talent for teaching and the fact that we owe you a big debt, all of us, for spying on Voldemort."

"Being rich is a nice payoff for the years of terror" said Severus "I guess I'd hope you'd not grudge it; for I don't want gratitude. You know why I started doing it?"

"Because you hated him?"

"No" said Severus "Because I loved Harry Potter's mother; because she will always be my first love, and that has a special place in any man's heart. Because I swore to protect her son as if he was my own; as I might once have hoped that he had been. Because I have come to love Harry for himself; and because I, like Jade, loathe inefficiency. Voldemort was inefficient. It tends to be a flaw of megalomaniacs. As to my talents of teaching, Engelbert, I learned to teach efficiently when I learned to love myself and hence to love others and to care passionately about the fact that Harry MUST learn occlumensy to protect him from Voldemort – for the scabby little bastard left a portion of himself in Harry when he failed to kill him. Harry had to live with seeing some of Voldemort's actions; and learn to hide his own. And I learned to love to teach him, and Krait, and thus found a love of teaching that I had not known I had within me; for I had taken the job teaching, as Albus suggested, without enthusiasm only because it would keep me in a position to watch and protect the boy when he got to school. And they formed a club, hiding it in the innocuous sounding name Muggle Studies Hobbies Group, where the keenest and most eager learned to fight Voldemort. And teaching those keen ones, the bright ones and the dull but worthy, but essentially those who WANTED to learn, showed me how teaching could be. I want the ones who want to know more; and I have learned over the years that almost all children can be stimulated to want to know more. The dullards are rare; even Miss Cackle's silly girls have, in the main, risen to the challenge. With a few exceptions; I think I babbled about some of them."

Hellibore grinned.

"I've taught a few Tugwoods myself" he said "If you turned them into sheep few people would notice the difference."

Severus gave a rueful grin.

"Is that what I said? I wasn't really listening to myself….babbling curses are rather embarrassing things."

"You weren't particularly embarrassing actually…. Most of what you were doing was crowing about how hard your pupils work and how concerned you were about some Italian kid you expelled….. if I understand it rightly, you can't win them all. She'd have been suited to transfer to the girls' part of Hellibore's Academy when we've set it up in an improved version. Should I have two separate schools and schedule the Professors to move from one half to the other?"

"The logisitics of that would be a nightmare" said Severus "If I were you, to protect all those gels and tender flowers, I'd have two separate sleeping wings to reassure the parents. And I can pass you the names of some parents who didn't like the idea of co-ed, but who might be reassured if too you had boys on one side of a classroom and girls on the other. Just a suggestion; I think it's silly myself but there you are. Muggle studies show that girls learn better in single sex schools and boys learn better in co-educational classes so whatever one does causes some unfairness; but if they grow up not thinking the opposite sex is an alien species, they're less likely to be gauche in social situations and girls are less likely to be flattered, impregnated and left by bold seducers because they'll have mostly wised up to the shenanigans boys can get up to, to wheedle a sly kiss behind the broom sheds. Make them dance very formally, perhaps, as a social skill and that's the time they get to socialise fully with each other; it could work."

"Yes it could; not fully co-educational; I could market it as socially interactive in a controlled environment" said Hellibore.

"Have you been taking lessons from Lucius?" laughed Severus "That sounds like the sort of crap he uses to sell ideas!"

"I think I'll take that as a compliment" said Hellibore.

"Oh it more or less was; I find I like you more than I expected to" said Severus.

"Likewise; I rather thought I disliked you. Especially as I could feel you disapproving of me not being able to heal Angelica. I had not realised there was such talent…. I was afraid someone else might manage a partial cure and leave her in worse pain…."

"If you'll listen to advice, I have never, when I've offended someone who means something to me, regretted apologising abjectly and explaining my feelings. Every time I have bottled up and failed to speak I HAVE regretted it; especially when the person I would have spoken to died before I managed to speak" said Severus.

Hellibore nodded.

"Then I shall take my courage in both hands and go to see my son and talk to all the children in the holidays" he said "Bellamy had the same trouble…."

"It runs in my family too" said Severus "I expect the Hellibores and Princes are related somewhere down the line. I've corrected it in a number of my relatives; it's almost routine now."

"Ah; I see" said Hellibore "I was angry that a child that Jade was should do something so risky; but to her it WAS routine… I can see that now. And she is not, I think, a girl to overestimate her abilities; but many are."

"Jade and Lydia taught themselves occlumensy in case Voldemort captured them to ask questions about their daddy" said Severus grimly "And that I found out in a chance conversation. I would not be surprised to find they were practising the cruciatus curse on each other to learn to resist it before they even had wands; the war gave us remarkable children but at the price of some of their childhood. Somehow I doubt Jade has thought of herself as a child since she was about twelve. And in many ways she was more capable than most adults by then. Such is life; and I'm damn proud of her!"

"Yes; she is a child to be proud of" said Hellibore "And I know Angelica is proud to be a friend of hers. Shake hands, Severus; and let us move forward."

Severus was glad to do so; Hellibore could be foolish; but it is a wise man who is prepared to admit his own folly.

Englebert Hellibore was to Severus' mind a bigger man than Horace Slughorn.


	9. Chapter 9

_Because it's Easter I thought you guys deserved an extra chapter...  
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**Chapter 9**

Severus was in his office correcting essays from the second – a more enjoyable task than correcting essays from most years since the second were, by and large, rather more capable than not; when he was hit by a wave of distress through the bloodlink from Lilith, confused, befuddled, frightened; and Severus was aware, if Lilith was NOT, suffering from a poison that could be enough to kill.

_**do we go to her?**_ Krait's mind voice was almost panicked through their link, reaching too as he was to synchronise heartbeat to clear the poison and soothe Lilith.

_**Calling all absent, this is Lydia, stay focused, Padfoot is on it**_ Lydia was using a complex spell that broadcast to everyone. Severus heaved a sigh of relief and concentrated on focusing power through Sirius; as he knew all the other bloodgroup in the castle were. It were as well not to embarrass Lilith by turning up like a heavy handed parent.

_**Besides it might turn out to be a trick to get us to leave Prince Peak**_ Krait had calmed down and was back to icy logic _**I'm sending the prefects out on patrol, and Wulf and Fido out of the castle to sniff; go fey and have a look to north, I'll do south, Seagh's doing the forest.**_

Severus acknowledged and slid into fey space to have a quick patrol about the castle. He and Krait met up with Seagh with nothing to report.

"I'll put Strang on alert" said Severus " And Hunnic and Walther now they're well settled; just in case." The one time criminals were working well under Strang, grateful for the chance to escape the clutches of the criminal mastermind who was now, as Severus determined, serving time in the German prison Nurmengard. And as he was no creature of Odessa but an independent operator, the fellow would have little chance of getting out of Nurmengard before Hell froze. Severus had laid information, after all, to Berlin Vehmgerichten; not the local law enforcements.

Severus went back to his office; if there was anything serious, Padfoot would let him know via the portrait of James Potter.

"Padfoot's a damn good friend you know, Prongs" he said softly.

"Yeah, I noticed this too" said James "In what respect?"

"Someone's poisoned Lilith; but it's in his hands. He will take care of it" said Severus; indeed, knowing that it HAD been taken care of and that Lilith was back to normal and faintly scornful of somebody's abilities.

"Yeah; you can trust Sirius" said James. "Poor little sprite! I hope he tells me what happened to her!"

"Bound to; he'll want you to report to me" said Severus. "Besides, Padfoot always keeps you up to date."

"Which is more than anyone does with me!" Bellowed Phineus Nigellus. He had stopped showing nothing but his back earlier in the term to remark rather huffily that Severus' daughter Lilith was a pert brat and had lapsed into offended silence when Severus had cheerfully agreed.

"Don't be a prat, Phineas Nigellus" said James "If you listened occasionally instead of throwing massive enough sulks to be a ruddy Ravenclaw you'd hear more."

Phineas Nigellus scowled and looked as though he was going to turn a shoulder to James and changed his mind as Severus murmured,

"My, my! As if childishness from children wasn't enough!"

"Scales, mate, gotta go; Padfoot's on the other picture" said James, hurrying off out of the frame.

He was back shortly.

"No big deal" he said "Some silly brat in the fourth wanted to prove that Lilith shouldn't be taking exams and doing work more advanced than a holy wonder of Ravenclaw like herself – this kid in the fourth that is – and so she did a switching charm on Lilith's pumpkin juice with enough confusing and befuddlement draught in it to dose a dormitory, with the added refinement of cruelty of alihotsy" said James "And enough to drive a kid as small as Lilith to heart attack…..Padfoot says the Ravenclaw Princess is too stupid to have done it on purpose to try to harm Lilith permanently; he's left her to Flitters."

"Filius Flitwick is more than equal to dealing with silly little girls" said Severus "Thanks, Prongs; Sirius will let me know if Krait or I need to come?"

James laughed.

"Oh your Lilith is a self possessed little body; she was busy lecturing how the perpetrator should have switched the contents of the glasses not merely switched the glasses themselves, allowing Padfoot to use an origami seeking bird to find who had last handled it; he rubbed the paper on the glass before folding it."

"I didn't know Padfoot could do origami" said Severus mildly "He's obviously learned since I last saw him. Well, so long as Lilith takes it in her stride; she's so very young."

"Yeah; we tend to forget she's up two years ahead of her age" said James. "And she's a cute kiddy too; I don't think she'll lack support though. She IS a Marauder after all."

"There is that" said Severus.

Julian Finch had another problem to wrestle with once it was clear that Lilith was radiating her usual sunny nature again; and went to Severus.

"I'm interfering as one marauder to another sir" he said "Because…. Well because I think it's rotten that anyone should consider music a guilty secret!"

"Now I'm intrigued" said Severus "Spill, Julian."

"Well, as you know I'm studying like crazy from what notes Jade and Tony Queach left me" said Julian. "I know you're having Jade's friend to teach music next year, and I'm really looking forward to that; but I didn't think I could afford to let it drift for a year, and Sirri kindly set me up a music room as I'm the only one here as yet who IS musical. Unless you count Seagh who's way ahead of most people and probably that also counts most teachers. Well, I go to practise at odd times; I discipline myself to seven hours a week but it's not always an hour a day at the same time. So I was surprised to hear someone picking out tunes on the harp; and I listened and it was plainly someone teaching themselves from scratch – but with FEELING, Severus; and I went in there and it was Brewer and she cried a lot and begged me not to tell on her that she didn't mean to do anything naughty, and that she just had an urge to play music. And I asked her what she was playing – it was pretty wild – and she said she just made it up. And I said that anyone who loved music was okay in my book and asked her if she'd like me to teach her some theory. So she starts crying again – her parents are shits I think – and asked if she'd be in trouble or get me in trouble; and I said, no of course not; and if she worked hard there'd be a proper teacher from September and she said, oh Professor Snape was already doing such a lot for her he wouldn't want her to go to a special teacher too for something that nobody would think worth learning. She's a prize prune, sir."

"Poor kid" said Severus softly "Music is obviously something her parents do not prize; and she has been made to feel it unimportant, and as you say, almost a guilty secret. Set up the harp so you have to sit back to the door; I'll watch out for when she's next there and reassure the poor child. And not reveal that you told me off the record. You were right to come to me, lad; it's not sneaking, it's helping her though I fear she'd not see it that way. It ISN'T fair on you to have to teach her; but if you don't mind setting aside some time I don't suppose it will do you any harm to review and revise theory. No wonder she's a strange little girl and all cold and hard on the outside if she's had her music denied her."

"Yes sir; that's what I thought" said Julian. "I thought I'd sort of see if I could get her to attach herself to me to give her a bit of confidence; normally we're all paired up already for walks and things but it'd be easy to say I'd rather walk with a musician. I normally walk with AHHa, but he'll understand. Good fellow AHHa."

Severus smiled.

"It's sort of the definition of Marauders" he said. "He can give George a rest from Kate Grant – she DOES end up with George doesn't she? Nothing wrong with Kate but you might as well walk out with a gramophone recording of quidditch facts."

Julian laughed.

"It's as well George is fairly keen on quidditch" he said.

Severus set the elves to watch the music room out of school hours; and discovered that Silvina was getting up in the middle of the night to steal down to the music room.

He followed quietly and slid through the door using feyspace. She showed promise. He listened long enough to pick up the simple but effective tune she was working on and then with a flick of his wand set up a counterpoint on the little lap harp on the desk.

It was a moment or two before the rapt figure realised; and then she gasped; and turned; and cowered.

"My dear child!" said Severus, shocked. "I must say I don't think it's a good time to be practising music, but I pray you, do not look at me as though you expected blows!"

"Oh please don't expel me again! I'll TRY not to play any more!" cried Silvina.

Severus gathered her up in his arms and rocked her.

"And why, my dear, would I want to stop you playing again?" he asked "If you are self taught it sounds as though you have a great deal of talent; something to be PROUD of, not ashamed! Silvina, you are frozen: I'm going to get Krait along as a chaperone and you are coming straight to my study for hot chocolate and a place in front of my fire."

"You – you mean you're not angry with me?" said Silvina, disbelievingly.

"I'm a little irritated that you risk your good health by paddling about in the middle of the night when young bodies should be sleeping and without any slippers on, you bad child; but not for the music. Why you silly little girl, am I not trying to establish Prince Peak as a centre for gifted children? In music and art as well as academically and in Quidditch; and if you have a gift, it must be nurtured and allowed to grow. Now you tell me why you are crying."

They had reached the office and Severus poked the fire into greater life and threw a log on it as Krait came in with mugs of cocoa.

"My parents said that musicians were low and that learning music was a waste of time" Silvina managed "And they – if I tried to improvise musical instruments they took them away and told me it – it wasn't nice; in the same tone as they used about goblins."

"Well we already established my opinion of your parents" said Severus. "Has it not occurred to you that Seagh plays bagpipes, flute and harp and Jade also plays flute and harp, as does her sister Lydia? And Lilith plays flute, comb-and-paper, harmonica and fart-organ?"

"I – well a harmonica and fart organ are toys; I suppose I didn't think… and Julian, he has proper lessons but he's going to use it in magic; Jade uses it for magic too."

"And no reason you shouldn't as well my dear" said Severus "Or, if you like, just to please yourself; or to become a concert musician, which is hardly 'low'! I can see some point in the definition for the likes of the Broomstick Boys – the sounds of Nils Tenor and Crysichorus Bass do not fill me with pleasure and besides I recall them as naughty schoolboys who used their musical skill to set an entire barrel of horned toads to croaking in chorus. That they were neither toads in the true sense of the word nor were they alive did NOT deter them; dear me, I was horrified at the time but it does have it's funny moments" he chuckled. "They spent the evening gutting them of course" he added "And actually I wish I had known then what I know now; they might have done better if I had taken them firmly to one side to teach music and chanting. It was Jade using her flute to recreate chanting effects that opened my eyes to the possibility, you know! But whether you like or loath the Broomstick Boys, it's a valid job that they have; and bringing joy through entertainment is always valid! And all people have different tastes; Seagh loathes the Weird Sisters; I'm fairly indifferent to them; and Krait mildly likes them."

"It's the sentimental attachment to having danced with you the first time while they were playing for the Hogwarts Yule Ball" said Krait "And forcing you to admit that you weren't indifferent to me. Music is evocative, Silvina; it reaches to a part of us that is deep inside. Even those of us who are no great shakes at making music. If you have a gift with music it is a great gift; and if we had only known, you could have had lessons right from the first. And if you had" she added grimly "You'd have been a happier little girl and less in need of being contrary at us."

"I – I don't really know – are you saying you're PLEASED?" said Silvina.

"I'm always pleased when I find a child with extraordinary talent" said Severus. "I'm incandescently furious – again – with your fatuous and imbecilic father and his bizarre and antisocial ideas; poor Engelbert! How his laissez-faire attitude with his boys has caused trouble! By the by, your sister will probably be going to Hellibore's; he's taking girls from next year. So she can irritate your brothers instead if they're still at school. And you, my child, will be making us even more proud of you than we already are – because you've been working very well this year – by having something special that is all your own. And if you make up tunes as well, THAT is a saleable skill you know; whether you write simplistic and silly little twiddles for the Broomstick Boys, or jingles for the commercials on Wizarding Wireless – if anyone can tell the difference – or whether you write grand opera, or whether you write tunes with magical powers in it or to help chanters, it doesn't matter; in fact I know for a fact that Callinus Strainz, who writes opera far too clever for anyone who likes their music musical, has written a lot of the jingles for Wizarding Wireless because he needs his bread and butter as well as to pursue what he fondly believes to be his art and some of us feel should have an 'f' in front of it…."

"Severus!" said Krait as Silvina managed a watery giggle.

"You KNOW how I feel about the pretentious" said Severus "My complaint about Herr Strainz, young Silvina, is that he is not true to himself; he must needs be pretentious and act the stuck up goat. Insincerity irritates me. And I'd say there's more truth to himself in his jingles; some of them are catchy; he wrote the music to the Firebolt advertisement; and made it memorable despite the silly words."

"Oh – 'if you want the perfect broom, wherever you are flying, on a Firebolt you will zoom, it's the best you're buying' you mean?" said Silvina. "It IS rather catchy; I thought they'd lifted the tune out of some greater work."

"If he'd only written a work around that as the main theme, the silly cretin would be a household name instead of a risible little half-fraud" said Severus.

"Your musical prejudices aside" said Krait "This poor child is asleep on her feet; and no slippers you silly little girl! I'm going to apparate you back to your dorm and an elf will bring you a hot water bottle; and tomorrow we'll see about arranging you proper times to practise and giving you the chance to try different instruments. I know enough to teach you the basics; and play well enough by ear to accompany you. As does Severus. We DO know; I wasn't allowed luxuries like music lessons in the orphanage where I grew up; and Severus' family were too poor because the only way you learned music at Hogwarts was – still is to some extent – with a visiting music teacher. We shan't have a proper teacher until September; but as you're our ward we can guide you on through the holidays. We taught Jade and Lydia between us; so I guess it's not a bad job we did."

"Jade is very good" said Silvina. "I can get lost in the music when she plays."

"It runs in the Malfoys" said Krait "And she's good enough that our faltering teaching was enough to teach herself. Severus is musical too; it goes with chanting and Arithmancy. And I've had lessons in opera singing that I use with chanting; that it won't do you any harm to learn because it will enhance your knowledge of the voice as an instrument even if you don't sing yourself. Now drain that last drop; and to bed with you!"

Silvina was so happy that she was dropping off to sleep, contented for the first time ever and scarcely noticed an elf sliding a hot water bottle in at her feet.

Her tune played in her dreams with the magical counterpoint woven around it from the Headmaster's clever additions; and other parts were busy suggesting themselves too!

Silvina entered a new world of joy and wonder as she was encouraged to play different instruments and shown different techniques; and taught gradually and painfully, but with the interest to make her work hard, the musical notation that meant that squiggles on lines gradually became tunes she could hear as she looked at them. And the still rather stiff and standoffish girl who shied away from people blossomed; and became almost outgoing. Not only permitted to enjoy music but encouraged to do so; it was hardly surprising that she sang, hummed and whistled to herself all day long; once Krait had taught her how to whistle.

"It can be melodious when done well" said Krait "I taught myself to whistle as a rebellion because nice girls didn't; and if I got beaten for it I would whistle defiantly and loudly in the punishment cupboard because either they had to put up with it or open up to heave me out so either way it was a small victory for me."

Silvina gasped.

"That sounds awful!" she cried.

"It was rather" said Krait "Jade and Lydia were in there too; when Severus rescued me he took them out too and adopted them. The counter-ritual stifled our magic. The thought of my darling girls denied magic and music fills me with horror; and so does any stifling of a child. The funny thing is, there's a phrase in the Holy Book that says, 'whoever throweth a stumbling block in the way of a little child, it were better that a millstone be tied about his neck and he be cast into the deepest part of the ocean'. But like many things it got distorted; as our memories of how elves came to work for humans has been lost at worst and at best much distorted. As the understanding of pure blood got distorted; the original safeguards and taboos were about not letting the fey into a situation where they could do damage. As Seagh's natural father tried to get him into Hogwarts where he could circumvent the stringent laws of the fey, and do damage. Severus outwitted the creep; and we adopted Seagh having tricked the Fey chieftain into repudiating him. And Seagh, who's half human, has no wish to have anything to do with his fey father!"

"I don't know anything about the fey" said Silvina "Or about how elves came to be enslaved. Vya had been very decent to me."

"She's a good kid" said Krait "You'll learn some about fey music from Seagh, if you've a mind to; it has its own magic. He'll be teaching our full time teacher next year, for he wishes to stay on and do research of his own into the powers of music. And to find what he can about more fey music; the power of the song of the Veeli for example; and the fabled elf-king's tune. You are exploring new ground; nobody has actually researched how much can be done with music in magic."

"Then I might be able to discover things?" said Silvina "That- that's quite exciting."

Krait smiled at her.

"Yes; it is. Finding new things, or rediscovering them, IS exciting. You have opportunities rarely given to any; the chance to add to the sum total of knowledge and to maybe even have some tune or law named after you; you and Julian and Seagh will be working WITH Godfrey Goodchild as much as under him; and possibly we'll have a few transfer from Hogwarts too, apparently there's a kid called Sara Barbary who's considered a talented chanter who's also musical. She's the same age as you and Julian; it would make sense to put you all together. For by the next term if you're prepared to work through both holidays we'll have you well able to keep up with Julian, as he's had muggle music lessons only; enough to learn the rules and know a lot of theory but there's more to it than that."

"I will work hard" said Silvina "I've a lot to work for; and if you don't mind, I'd like to write to this Sara Barbary. I – I don't have a special friend like most people do – except Kate who doesn't really care. And she and I really have nothing in common! She's even more a loner than me!"

"Well, you do that then" said Krait. "Even if she doesn't transfer, it would be nice for you both to have something in common to discuss and compare notes; and we'll see about you meeting her in the holidays."

It would be nice for Silvina if Sara DID transfer, though not perhaps entirely politic as Lydia had written that the girl had something of a crush on Godfrey Goodchild; still, that would either die the death or strengthen if they were thrown into closer proximity. And shared interests were a good basis for a relationship.

Silvina's new found conviviality and musical skill prompted AHHa to suggest that the third put on a concert for the rest of the school, playing Silvina's first piece of music as one of the turns.

"But I can't manage to write it out yet!" said Silvina, aghast.

"That's all right; most of us wouldn't have a clue how to read it anyway" said AHHa "'Cept Julian and maybe Sandalla. She plays the flute a bit; why don't you coach us in the different parts most of us on comb and paper? You and Julian on harps, Sandalla on flute; just to give you an idea how it might sound. If we all take a sort of humming base fourth part with the clever people doing the twiddly bits it'll be fine! And Julian will play his fiddle for us to sing various popular songs, but if we've got yer actual composer in the class, y'know it behoves us to make the said composer lend a bit of tone to what is undoubtedly going to otherwise be a rather vulgar performance."

Silvina actually laughed!

"Well, if you really want to play it…." She said.

"You keep humming at it, and it's sort of getting well known in the class" said AHHa; "And it's cool. And as we know it a bit, not too difficult either. Will you do a harp solo?"

"I – no, but I reckon I can accompany Sandalla if she'll play flute."

"Oh I'm not good enough" said Sandalla "I play for fun; and I've not the feeling for it. But we could both accompany Julian if you don't feel confident yet; if he plays the big harp and you play lap harp and I tootle a bit in the background we could do some of that Gaelic stuff Seagh is always singing I reckon. Julian has a good voice too; we've actually got some good voices all round, Svetlana has a decent voice, and Flo; and Vya has a fantastic treble. It'll be good when we have a music teacher to train the ones who'll be best at chanting – and with a second career as singers too!"

"What's wrong with me using voices instead of comb and paper for some parts?" said Silvina "Wordless but totally controlled!"

"Go for it" said AHHa "I should think it would sound quite fey in some ways; it's pretty unearthly in places – in a good way not a bad I mean" he added hastily "In those sort of wailing passages; you could really go to town with the voices there."

"I wasn't that happy when I wrote that bit" said Silvina. "It was I suppose my feelings just laid into music about all the unfairness of not being allowed music."

She then had to explain this; and found that her new tentative friends were indignant on her behalf and angry at her parents.

"No wonder you were such a grumpy little git!" said AHHa indignantly, with more truth than tact "It – it – well I guess it's like stopping any one of us using magic, or making people eat bread and dripping forever!"

"I think your parents have a nawfully odd idea of what's low and what's not nice" said Flo "I can see the racism; it's kind of en – en – endemic in the system; but that's plum silly!"

"You can tell she's associated with Jade Snape with words like endemic escaping" grinned AHHa.

"When most of the GREAT families in the land have music rooms and expect their offspring to be able to perform something for the entertainment of visitors it's well odd" said George. "Malfoy Manor has a massive music room, even if the best Draco can offer is 'There's a Zombie in my Attic' picked out on one finger on the piano. Lucius plays; and he uses it with chanting too. I say, shall we do 'Zombie'?"

"Yeah, rather!" said AHHa "Appease our more vulgar elements; besides it's fun. How many verses? Not all sixteen, please!"

"Oh five or six should do" said Fred "I start giggling around then and can't stop which sort of spoils it."

"I don't know it" said Silvina.

"Oh it's gross! You'll love it!" said Sandalla "I never knew it until I came to school; it was the one and only hit of some small band back in the sixties called The Buttons."

"I vote we all cast _avocado Kadavra_ on each other to sing that" said AHHa "And have our pyjamas ready to pull on over school clothes with patches and shreds sewn onto them to look sort of gross; 'cos we can cast a _Finite Incantatem_ after and pull of the jams to be ready for whatever we do next!"

"Cool" said George "And just as well you Marauders CAN cast _finite incantatem_ which is, when all's said and done a prefect level spell most of us can't guarantee to work."

The school was always happy to attend an impromptu concert; and Silvina begged to get her piece over and done with first before she had second thoughts and decided not to have it at all.

She got variously thumped on the back and told to grin and bear it; and it was agreed that they would, as AHHa announced it, open with some tone and class.

"Which most of you lot wouldn't recognise if it bit you but for the few cultured amongst you here it is, an original piece for the first time in performance" he added "So get your clapping done quickly and then we'll get on with it. It's called 'Out of the Darkness'."

Silvina had suggested tentatively calling it 'out of sorrow' and much class discussion had come back to a title only slightly removed and suggesting, as Vya said, a release from ANY slavery, whether it was stupid parents or true slavery or the slavery of the misery under Voldemort.

Seagh, Krait and Severus could see the faults and holes in the piece; but its promise was undeniable. And Vya's voice soared to the edges of hearing in a wail of anguish in the first half that sent shivers down the spine. Her beautiful young voice rose once again in the second part that was a paean of joy for Silvina's response to being given music, a tumbling canon of a piece that needed work but that was already full in its essentials, and made better, in fact, by the musical limitations of the singers and comb players who found second parts difficult and so were just chasing the harmony in what was effectively little more than a round. Julian had pointed out that as misery complicated things, so the simplicity of joy actually meant this was an improvement on the complexities Silvina was trying – unsuccessfully – to incorporate. Silvina considered Julian the fount of all musical wisdom after Severus and Krait and took his advice.

The applause was thunderous.

AHHa's calumnies despite, the Prince Peak children knew when they were hearing something out of the ordinary.

Severus rose.

"May I say that as well as appreciating the music I also appreciate the bravery of the composer who has never been taught music until this term; and has more tunes that that, I am certain, bottled up and waiting to escape. My dear girl, although one day you will want to rework this, because you'll find there are things you want to improve, I beg you not to polish it TOO much. The use of the round style canon in the second part was inspired; as was the use of voice as an instrument to get around the lack of musicians in your year. One day Prince Peak will claim with pride that it was able to nurture such a composer."

"She? Wasn't it Julian then?" said Fred Lowther.

"No; it was our very own Silvina Brewer who was stifled by awful parents so now she's free and we're all behind her in her endeavours because she's all right!" said AHHa. "Now for you lowbrow types we're doing 'There's a Zombie in my attic' so give us half a mo to get ready; you may sit and marvel over Silvina while we do it."

Silvina squirmed; she had asked not to be named; but on reflection, with so enthusiastic an applause, she was glad AHHa had done so!

She scrambled into her pyjamas decked out with all the rags the children could beg from Sirri to tack on in tatters and AHHa solemly turned everyone green and the Marauders went a stage further with some pustulant spots.

They shambled out and Julian played his fiddle and they all sang:

_There's a zombie in my attic and he's starting to smell_

_There's a zombie in my attic and he's turning green as well_

_Whenever I come in the door_

_Bits of flesh fall on the floor_

_Body fluids feely pour_

_From the zombie in my attic!_

##

_There's a zombie in my attic and he likes to lend a hand_

_It dropped off at the wrist and he passes it arahnd_

_I sewed it back with strong white thread_

_It doesn't hurt because he's dead_

_The other hand broke off instead_

_From the zombie in my attic!_

##

_There's a zombie in my attic and he is putrefied_

_All the horrid gases are mixed in his inside_

_With the rotting of each part_

_He gives off a noxious fart_

_Making all nearby depart_

_From the zombie in my attic_

Here there was a musical interlude of sorts as several of the class had acquired the new toy from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the fart organ; a mouthorgan that played different notes sounding like farts. Most of the instrumentalists could manage a verse of the song so that was what they played, punctuated with giggles.

With this they had decided to stick to four verses and sang their last with aplomb and not too much corpsing.

_There's a zombie in my attic and he attracts the flies_

_Which when you think how much his smells is not a big surprise_

_Fat white maggots hunger sate_

_Some that wriggle, some gyrate_

_Now I have some fishing bait_

_From the zombie in my attic!_

This went down very well too.

Next Julian played his fiddle and Sandalla and Svetlana demonstrated some country dancing – devoid of greenness, boils and pyjamas with pull-on dirndl skirts and little boleros as a costume with tambourines.

Some Gaelic songs came next, then the cauldron monster song in its Prince Peak version, with Rose Hubble on stage with a cauldron into which she was dropping very elderly looking socks and unnamable looking things – mostly made out of squelched newspaper – with a bubble based on the airhead charm concealed in the cauldron into which all the third had obligingly farted to cast the fluorescent fart jinx on and release as a climax to the song.

Rose was generally acknowledged a sport to do this as Hubble moments in the Potions Dungeon were rather well known.

A few more popular songs brought the concert to its last number, which was the third's joint effort of a pastiche on Celestina Warbeck's 'Cauldron full of hot strong love' as 'Cauldron full of Hot Strong Prep'

"Oh won't you do my homework

And if you get it right

I'll find you much more hot strong Prep

To make you do tonight

Oh won't you do my homework

And if you get it wrong

There's plenty of horned toads to gut

Detention hot and strong!"

The concert was reckoned a success by one and all!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

What Silvina did not know was that Krait had recorded her work using a clockwork gramophone recording device, hardly different to the early Victorian recording devices only with goblin made brass masters and goblin steel needles. Krait thought it would be valuable for Silvina to hear the results in a few months' time when she had more skill and might fill in the holes and deficiencies in her work. And the child was far too uncertain and low in self esteem to consider that yet; enough that the basic talent of her work should give her applause from the relatively un-knowledgeable who missed the mistakes and the highly trained who could see where she might improve them with more experience. And quite right of Severus, approved Krait, to tell her now that she should not over-work it when she came to improve on it. Approbation of one's peers was sweet and it was what Silvina needed for the nonce.

In point of fact, Krait had recorded the entire concert so that Prince Peak might have a record of it for years to come; it was part of their history. She had asked Albus to similarly record highlights of any Hogwarts concerts – Lilith and her reprobate friends in the first and second had already had one – so that in time Krait might release a 'highlights of school concerts' album, the sales of which would boost the various scholarship funds. Doting parents were, at least, likely to pay for a recording that had their little angels on; though they might not be so keen to discover that their little angel featured mainly on fartorgan!

Silvina was euphoric; and that combined with the excitement of the end of term looming led to her carelessness with the shrinking solution she was brewing which started to give off most horrid smelling purple fumes.

"Miss Brewer" said Severus "Allowing for a musician's mind being apt to wander, do TRY to concentrate in my class or you'll find yourself in a cauldron full of hot strong detention. THAT was almost a Hubble moment; get rid of it. You just have time to start again and get a grade for the class."

"Yes sir; sorry sir" said Silvina taking her cauldron carefully over to the drain "Is it safe to tip down here sir?"

"Yes it is; and I must say probably wise of you to check" said Severus "Though generally if I tell you to get rid of something, until you've been formally taught the vanishing spell it is all right. You can use _scourgify_ to clean the cauldron rather than wasting time scrubbing it."

Silvina's second attempt was much better and ready just as the bell went; everyone else had decanted.

"Good girl" said Severus "You HAVE got the determination to stay with it."

"Sir, for being allowed music I'll put all I have into even the things I can't easily do" said Silvina earnestly.

Severus ruffled her hair.

"Good kid" he said.

From Professor Snape that was praise worth having; he was never fulsome in any praise, though he did not fail to give it when it was due; it was his rich scathing cadences of vituperation that he was most famous for, sending many a curious child running for a dictionary to check exactly what he meant.

Few children in the school were now ignorant as to what 'cacaceous' 'effluvium' and 'concatenation' meant!

The end of term brought the blooded of Prince Peak together to go to a blooding ceremony at Durmstrang; those children expecting to go home for the holiday who were involved staying on an extra day by arrangement with their parents, the reason being left a little nebulous and with a suggestion of 'cross school good will' involved. This only really meant Julian and AHHa since the Muggle Marauders generally stayed for Easter anyway – and Randolph certainly would for HIS troubles – and all other Marauders and blooded were more or less residents anyway. Justin Finch-Fletchly was collecting his cousin and partook of the school's hospitality for an extra day; and Angelica normally saw her brothers home but they were to stay on this holiday with her while she revised with the rest of the NEWT students. BaHH suggesed that he and AHHa could take the train for themselves but Angelica had shuddered over that suggestion and their parents agreed! BaHH was more or less resigned; he knew there was something else afoot. Angelica knew more or less about the Blood Group and was herself equivocal about whether she wanted to join or not. BaHH had not yet established himself as a Marauder; which was all he knew about it, that AHHa was a Marauder and it was Marauder business.

The Prince Peak crew arrived smoothly in a dungeon room at five am Durmstrang time; at the same time as large contingents from both Hogwarts and retired Marauders such as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy and most of the staff of the free school in London. There were several huggings and reunions.

It got rather cramped.

"Dad did you bring EVERYONE?" demanded Jade "It feels like it!"

"It seemed, that if this was the new branch, the prognosis would be more favourable with an eclectic selection of a moderately universal nature to give them the most advantageous mix" said Severus.

"That's dad-speak for he thought you'd have a better deal with everyone here" translated Jade.

"He's only logorrhoeac when he's in an unanticipated social situation" said Krait.

"She said dad gets wordy when there's a lot of people he doesn't know" said Jade.

"No wonder you're a bit inclined to the same yourself!" said one of the new Durmstrang ones.

The ceremony was counted down by Hermione – who liked to do the job – and palms were slit. Most old hands used _diffindo_; others used silver knives. And then the dungeon filled with the throbbing of a great drum like noise that was the combined heartbeats of more than a hundred hearts; and the new members gasped as the knowledge of their blood kin hit them; and the knowledge that all these people WERE kin, were closer than kin including the two juvenile goblins that Jade had acquired from somewhere.

And then they were drinking hot sweet cocoa; Severus had decided that crumpets were going to be too much bother in a cramped dungeon and the minimal blood sugar replenishment would do.

"You older ones will get to meet us more properly perhaps in the long holiday" said Severus "We have a ceremony on a grand scale; a kid was forced by his weirdo parents to commit suicide for being a wizard; he became a ghost. We're planning on putting him back in his body."

"Can that then be done?" gasped a tall girl her new sibkin now knew was called Cacilia.

"They did it for me and I'd been dead fifty years" said Myrtle laconically. "My Abraxus gave his hand; Professor Dumbledore's giving his hand for this kid Seth and is going to be his new father. Anyone who cares to give blood for him is always welcome."

"Were – were these parents then muggles?" asked a girl called Traudl.

"Muggles with a strange belief and religion" said Lydia "And the two little girls ran away; so we're faking up a murder and getting the parents blamed by the muggle authorities. Nice piece of transfiguration; we did it with chanting. The little girls are safe now and Seth at least is a ghost in a friendly place if it doesn't work. But it will" she added "Dad's running the ritual; and nobody does ritual like dad does."

"He's so good in a group" purred Dione, snuggling. As Sirri and Krait were also snuggling her inference was quite clear.

"Grown ups can be very embarrassing; I do apologise for them" said Lilith and promptly got clipped across the back of the head by several pairs of fingers.

And then the English contingent were leaving; for a brief visit to England for Severus and his family, and then back to his charges in Austria, for not all went home for the short Easter holiday, and the exam students were expected to stay and use the time for revision too!

Severus was happy to leave Lilith in Lydia's care in England; David and Ellie Fraser were spending the holiday in Orme Court with their younger adopted child – Vasilica was busy revising for her OWLs in Hogwarts – and the New Marauders and associates were around. He had enough to do keeping his upper sixth and fifth form calm and insisting that they took leisure and exercise as well as frowsting in the library. How many of the original Cackle girls in the fifth would stay on to take NEWTs he was not sure; it had not been a common thing to do save for those considered outstandingly clever in the days before he had taken over the school; and somehow he suspected that Deborah Puisel, Ruth Blaise, and Gloria Cantripp might well be leaving. None of them were scholars, though Gloria had worked harder than she might otherwise have done out of the gall of having her younger brother work for a remove into her class and then out-perform her. However, the allure of being a debutant and escaping learning would, Severus suspected, be greater than a desire to win higher qualifications.

Well, such girls would in future go to Hellibore's; and as Hellibore was making noises about having his sixth form more a finishing school than terribly academic, Severus intended mentioning this to the parents of those girls who did not want to go on. Those of Hellibores who wanted to take NEWTs would either take one or two in almost private classes with their professors – which would enhance their achievement anyway – or transfer to Prince Peak for the chance to do more exams. It would work out very nicely.

And for the sort of girls for whom marriage to a respectable man in public life was the pinnacle of ambition, classes in charms to lay tables for dinner parties and spells to fold napkins were probably more use than a NEWT in DADA say. The worst dark arts they were likely to encounter were social solecisms; and providing they could deal with a boggart and recognise cursed items, that, really, was probably sufficient.

The call from Jade to come because Odessa was moving against the ministry in Strasburg was annoying.

"HOW like Gerhardt to move early!" sighed Severus.

"Yes; I had hoped that with Riddle dead and gone we shouldn't have quite such frenetic holidays as we used to have" said Krait "I vote we disturb David and Ellie's holiday; David's a tactical genius."

David was irritated; but resigned.

"At least he didn't disturb the exams" he said.

"Practical as ever, Fido!" laughed Severus!

The ministry in Strasburg was set in its own park on the outskirts and the muggle conurbation unaware of its existence. One might apparate to the outer limits of the park but none were supposed to be able to apparate within.

Severus and Seagh made a feyspace reconnaissance; and Severus opened a link to tell his daughter that Gerhardt and his men were arriving in droves just outside the non-apparating zone and the werewolves are being side-alonged. Severus added,

"It's full moon tonight I'd say they were hurried into changing a little early; it's not difficult. We have AKs; if you take over the wolves, you and Wulf and Irmi; your new ones and Agata and the rest of us can mop up the rest; they have got Slavic troops. Von Frettchen lost sight of him briefly I'd say. I'll give the word and you bring people in; as soon as the ministry fools have actually really started to panic. Are you ready?"

"Red five, standing by" said Jade in her head.

Several German ministers screamed as the Prince Peak contingent and Jade's people arrived simultaneously; Seagh and Severus stepping out of fey space to look as though they had arrived with the rest.

"We're not here, Agata" said Severus pleasantly "But while we weren't here we thought a hand might not go amiss."

"Very civil of you Severus" said Agata "I'll ask you as the most experienced person not here to direct operations."

Seagh was busy telling a German Minister

"We're Luke Skywalker; we're here to rescue you."

"Thank heavens for another voice of insanity" said Jade "Take care of my friends; we'we hunting Gerhardt"

"The idea of a wolf looking like Elmer Fudd is quite boggling" said Seagh. "Bite his fat arse for us."

"Only after I've turned him into a fwuffy white wabbit" said Jade.

"Two films in one quote? That's going it even for you" said Seagh. Jade could be relied upon to carry through the job. THEIR job was to defend the ministry from infiltration; and deal with any who looked like they wanted to be infiltrated.

Dementors rose from the magical circles of energy whence they had been brought; and at the direction of their summoners headed for the handsome, but not very defensible ministry building.

Irmi quickly sent thoughts of a new spell she had developed, that Jade had asked her to test on dementors; a bolt of electrical energy that disrupted beings made of pure magic as well as electricity disrupted the use of magic.

Bolts of energy shot from wands as the new spell of Irmi's leaped upon them and a horrid smell not entirely unlike burned flesh floated horridly onto the air.

The ministry officials were trying to flee of course; and various Prince Peak people dropped binding curses on them.

The two groups linked up, took hands of those not blood-joined, and apparated outside.

"There aren't many of them; attack!" Gerhardt was heard to cry. "And the lands and title of Von Frettchen to whoever kills him for me!" as he recognised his erstwhile lieutenant.

"DURMSTRANG DEFENDS!" shouted one of the new bloodkin, using a sonorous spell.

"Posey, but a good sentiment brother" said Seagh. He thought the boy was called Ritter.

The storm wizards advanced behind the diminishing dementors; who died faster than with the laughter curse. Wolves were pouring out of the pens; Jade was radiating satisfaction, so one might assume this was her doing, not that of the enemy. She had a mind smugness very like Krait's when things were going well, reflected Severus.

"I did not order the wolves released yet!" shouted Gerhardt as the werewolves poured out when the barriers of energy went down.

There was a lot of sound and fury and the odd howl from the command area; Wulf and Irmi were leading werewolves against the rear of the storm wizards and Jade had doubtless taken Seagh at his word.

Jade contacted Seagh and said

"He said 'do something Muttley'" there was a pause. "THREE film references" she sent the thought to Seagh showing a picture of Gerhart being briefly a six foot tall white rabbit before being a small fluffy domestic rabbit; then Bugs Bunny; then himself. Seagh chuckled; Harvey as well! Shortly there was a thin scream that ended on a gurgle

The Prince Peak contingent – Severus, Krait, Dione, Sirri, Beloc, Ron, Hermione, Percy, Harmony, David, Ellie, Victor, Seagh, Anett, Lydia and Viktor, Helga, Hester Figg, Angelica, Tala, Erich and assorted ex werewolves – raised their products of Tovarich Kalashnikov and opened fire.

Under a hail of lead, storm wizards fell as though walking into a wall of death. A few werewolves fell too, having got ahead of themselves; but got up. The force of the impact knocked them flying but ordinary lead did little but bruise them; which was the idea of using ordinary bullets.

The Durmstrang contingent focused with their wands and poured such spells as they knew into those still standing; visibly shocked by the hail of death from their Prince Peak counterparts. Severus was chanting, holding a shield over all so that that was one less thing to concentrate on; old hands like Krait, David and Hermione were using spells as well as firing, one finger on wands for better focusing, showering the enemy with blue fire in Hermione's case, a very practical disarming spell from David, who could be relied on to be sensible; and locusts in Krait's because it was funnier.

It was over before the contingents of Odessa even knew they were beaten. These Russian wizards had never come across such carnage before; at least, not unless they were causing it.

And one of the ministers died too in the hail of lead because Seag saw him creeping up behind Von Frettchen with his wand readied and apported him right out into the killing ground.

"Och, Von Ferret, yon mannie's nae verra friendly t'wards ye; ye'd better watch yer back lest there's a few mair sich gaumless sumpfs tryin' tae spell ye in the back" said Seagh,

"He said that the one who just appeared three feet off the ground was trying to spell you" translated Victor, whose German was now very good "And wondered if you had any other enemies in the ministry here."

Von Frettchen looked startled.

"My thanks for the timely intervention" he said "Er, does he understand more German than he speaks?"

"My German is impeccable" said Seagh impeccably "My manners however are excruciating."

"True" said Victor.

Severus clipped Seagh across the back of the head in the time honoured fashion.

"Ignore my son, Von Frettchen" he said. "Pass the word, use the full body bind on the werewolves; Von Frettchen if you and Agata and your contingent would care to take the ministry we'll mop up out here and be on our way. If you want to play with prophesies, my daughter has been named as the Jade Wolf. You may have to talk very fast to get her to play ball; she despises prophesy. Have fun; actually YOU probably will. I believe Lucius did when we took OUR ministry. The rest of us endured."

"Use Jade to legilimens all the ministry types and weed out the Odessa supporters" said Krait "She's really quite good considering how young she is."

Since Von Frettchen had never met a legilimens as good as Jade before he seethed once more inwardly at the laconic litotes of the English; and his seething was obvious enough to amuse Severus; who liked to keep still uncertain allies like Von Frettchen off his guard.

Severus was most concerned with getting the antidote into the werewolves; those who hated the disease would then be free of it; those who liked being werewolves and enjoyed the pain and horror they caused would then be neutralised.

Von Frettchen paused.

"Bertolf Hochbesen is grateful for the cure" he said "He is part of my bodyguard now; and is on his way here with other of my troops. They will be surprised to find it essentially over."

"Let us hope he will not assume we are the enemy" said Severus dryly "I will be aware they come."

"That is them now" Von Frettchen pointed to a heavy carriage drawn by six flying horses, from which storm wizards leaped, wands ready, before it even touched down. Von Frettchen waved.

The ex werewolf Hochbesen ran over and clicked his heels.

"Herr Herzog; you have had aid from the Herr Professor; I am glad that two men I admire are now allies" he said "You will aid these other werewolves? They are not all dead?"

"They should none of them be dead" said Severus "We worked on not killing them."

"You are a great man and a compassionate one Professor; as well as profoundly ruthless and with a well developed sense of humour" said Hochbesen. "Excuse me; the duke wants me" and he clicked his heels again before following Von Frettchen.

"A man who can earn that loyalty is a man worth working with" said Severus. "Well, let us get busy with serum."

"Yes, and Ellie and I will mop up the bullets with _accio_" said David "Let's keep these foreigners in the dark yet; if Von Frettchen knows I doubt HE'LL want it too widely known either."

"Good thought" said Severus.

They started injecting bound werewolves; it would be easier to transport rational beings. Those who did not like the cure could just be left to make their own way wherever they wanted to be; the rest would go to one of the large estates belonging to Friedolf Nachtigall, enough established now that his brother Ritter had been banished from the lands he has seized. Friedolf had granted him some lands so long as he never came near him or his family again; to be magnanimous in victory was easy enough and gave Ritter Nachtigall less to complain of.

Most ex werewolves were more in a state of shock than anything else. Wulf and Friedolf and Gunnar Schiff were passing among them, reassuring them, explaining that they were cured. For most this was a shock; for some glad news for others news that was impossible to assimilate. Those who had been werewolves most of their lives, some of whom had been born werewolves, could not understand nor easily come to terms with what this news really meant. There were but few who greeted the revelation that they were no longer werewolves with howls of anguish and horror; only the few had been wantonly cruel. Some had learned cruelty; but it was a cruelty to avenge themselves on wizards who had not treated them well, assuming that the hand of all the world was against them. Finding friendly wizards extending kindly helping hands to them was almost incomprehensible.

That those of their own were here, the other ex werewolves of Prince Peak, helped a great deal; these were comrades, and as such would not lie. If they said trust, the majority of the werewolves were prepared to do just that.

And then the Prince Peak contingent were organising them into groups and apparating them to the big manor where Rahel Nachtigall, Friedolf's wife, was making comfortable rooms for them, and was ready to receive refugees with kindness.

What they needed was rest, good food, and a place of safety; few had received much if any education but that was an issue to be addressed in the future, together with getting them wands. Such they would be told; but meantime they were to find themselves and adapt to no longer fearing the full moon. Von Frettchen had promised proper papers for them and Severus also held out for compensation to be paid out of Gerhardt's personal wealth.

What was to happen to the widows and orphans of those Slavic forces who had died this day, Severus did not know; that was Von Frettchen's business since he had access to the files of Odessa. No-one could do everything. And Severus had pledged himself to aid the werewolves.

Remus Lupin was to call in and see them too; and if Odessa was now finished with and the few living leaders in it quiescent, they might perhaps manage to run intensive education courses in holidays.

Then they might get back to normality for a while.

In Zurich, Roseli Accola was in the muggle part of the city buying new shoes with her mother; and while her mother paid had gone to sit outside so she wasn't underfoot. There was another child sitting on the park bench, a little girl around Roseli's age, who stared at her.

Roseli was a friendly enough child if a little touchy at times about her half breed status so she went and plonked herself down next to the little girl; who somehow did not look very Swiss.

"Bonjour, Guten tag, Hello, buon'giorno or possibly Strastvoychey" said Roseli.

"Gosh, do you speak all those languages?" asked the child in English.

"Russian not well at all" said Roseli "Like, to the extent of asking where the toilet is and telling people I haven't a clue what they are saying. German is my native language but the school I go to is English and requires us to do lessons in each of the languages most people speak."

The child brightened.

"Like the Chalet School?"

"Rather; our head got the idea from it, well, his daughter did, and pestered him to have a uniform in brown and flame too" said Roseli.

"Gosh! I must ask Miss Percival to see about making enquiries!" said the child "I'm here because the last asthma attack half killed me; and she's going to look for a school that will make allowances for my health."

Roseli looked dubious.

"We've had sickly kids who needed the air but it's a specialist school for talented kids; different talents, but those who need special teaching" she said.

"Maybe I could get in on art then" said her companion. "My name's Sarah; Sarah Joyce Elliot."

"Roseli Accola" said Roseli. "May I ask why you were staring at me?"

Sarah coloured.

"Well…. I kinda thought you looked a bit like what the fairy folk ought to look like… of course if they existed" she added hastily.

"Have you ever seen fairies?" asked Roseli, intently "Tell me the absolute truth; it is important."

Sarah looked uncomfortable.

"I – Yes" she muttered "And I DID too, even if you laugh at me!" she burst out.

Roseli grinned.

"Then I reckon you might just be eligible for Prince Peak" she said "Because it's a school for witches and wizards and I'm half goblin."

"OOH!" said Sarah then added suspiciously "You're trying to wind me up, aren't you?"

"Excuse, 'wind up?' that is what one does with string?" said Roseli.

Sarah shook her head

"Your English is so good and colloquial I guess I forgot! It means take the piss out of, make fun of, have a game with."

"I do not so do" said Roseli.

"Show me magic then" said Sarah.

"Don't be daft; for one thing it's forbidden out of school under age; and for another the place is full of muggles!"

"Muggles?"

"People who can't do magic; that was why it was important to know if you saw fairies. They are attracted to those of magical skill; and if you aren't at least sensitive they look like bees because of the inherent confundment magic in them. Do you live near an electricity substation in England? Because if you do, that will upset magic and that's why you've not had an invitation to go to Hogwarts school in Scotland."

"I don't really LIVE anywhere" said Sarah. "We're always moving about."

"Oh!" said Roseli "Well, that's all right; we do have scholarships for people who can't afford the fees, if you're artistic as well AND need the air for your asthma."

Sarah flushed.

"Oh, you misunderstand; my parents can afford the fees, but daddy is a diplomat and so we move around a lot from one country to another; but it's spoiling my health always moving and being in cities so he has sent me with Miss Percival to live in a Gasthof somewhere in the mountains and to look for a school. She's my governess you see" she added.

"Crumbs, that's a bit cheerless!" said Roseli "We're actually in Austria; on top of a mountain called Prinzhorn not far from where the original Chalet School was supposed to be; we can see the Tiernjoch on a good day. Here's my mum" she waved "Mum, can you do a bit of magic to prove to Sarah that I'm not fooling?" she said "She can see fairies and she's an artist and asthmatic!"

Frau Accola raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever next!" she said. She regarded the child thoughtfully, and took out her wand surreptitiously "Let me test her first" she said. Bright lines appeared between Sarah and the wand. Frau Accola nodded. "Ja, the child has talent to be a witch" she said. "Magic you want? I am not so skilled as my daughter; there was no good school in my day. Here" she pulled a button off her coat and touched the wand to it.

It turned into a big fat beetle.

Sarah gasped.

"Oh that's simple stuff" said Roseli "You'll learn that as one of your firstest things in Transfiguration; except that Madam Malfoy doesn't like turning things back once they've been given awareness."

"Beetles don't have much awareness" said Frau Accola, turning the beetle back "And it's not going to have the chance because I'll never match this button again" she held it against her coat muttering _reparo _and thread appeared from nowhere sewing it back on.

"GOSH!" said Sarah, even more impressed than by the beetle "That's really useful!"

"Madam Malfoy says that it's best to learn to sew properly too because the spells were all devised by people too lazy to learn how to do it properly and well and so the magical sewing is clumsy" said Roseli. "Though she has refinements of the basic spell."

"Is that any relation to Mr Lucius Malfoy of Wiltshire?" asked Sarah.

"Yes; he's her uncle. Do you know him?" asked Roseli.

"No; but daddy does. How come she has to teach?"

"She doesn't HAVE to teach, she has chosen it as a vocation so that people like you who are muggleborn and people like me who are part – or all- goblin get an education!" said Roseli angrily "Because England is the only country to teach freely whatever the blood status; and her husband, Professor Snape, is the Headmaster and set up the school, only you couldn't have two Professors Snape so she uses her maiden name!"

"I am sorry" said Sarah. "Oh; here comes Miss Percival; and she'll be cross. She doesn't like me talking to all and sundry children."

"As though I were riff-raff?" said Roseli. "Permit me."

She rose and dropped a brief curtsey to Miss Percival and held out her hand.

"Miss Percival! I understand your charge is in need of a decent school; as she has both health problems and a talent in art, it is possible that she may, if she has sufficient academic expertise also, pass the entrance exam for the English school I attend in the Austrian Alps; it is called Prince Peak, and the Headmaster's wife, who is one of the Science Professors, is the niece of a man I understand Herr – no, I mean, MR Elliot knows; a Mr Malfoy, so you would be able to get a recommendation from Mr Malfoy. Would you like me to write immediately to the head and let him know, so that if Sarah has the capabilities she might enter the school for the summer term? It gets very hot in the summer and good mountain air would help her no end. She will not be the only asthmatic in the school."

Miss Percival had looked harassed.

"Why … yes, assuming her father agrees….. dear me, Sarah, I have been trying to find a Gasthof to stay near the top of a mountain and they are all full of climbers! Without your father's diplomatic passes it is really quite impossible to get these people to do anything but shrug!"

"There is a good Gasthof at the railhead of the rack railway that belongs to the school" said Roseli "It is run for railway enthusiasts who come to see our rackrail; it is steam powered. The proprietor is a nice gentleman; his children are in the school or on the waiting list and he will find room. If necessary his children will go up to the school to sleep; there are always staff there, because the head had several wards who live in the school and also there are those children who must, for health reasons, live in all year round."

Miss Perceval brightened even more.

"The school would keep her all year round? Obviously for a fee."

"For her keep, yes; and I believe jolly activities and games are arranged to amuse and occupy those who must stay" said Roseli "My sister and I come home by train because it is not so far to Zurich. Many children from England only go home for the long holiday."

"Well, if you will be kind enough to direct me which trains to use, I will take Sarah there without delay and hope you may be right" Miss Percival was at the end of her tether. Whenever she had travelled before, it had been with the whole family; and Mr Elliot's diplomatic status had cleared away all obstacles! A maiden lady with a small child was to be ignored; and Miss Percival did not like it much! Finding kindness from strangers – and at least a well-spoken child who did not LOOK like an urchin – was enough to break through her reserve.

Sarah started wheezing at this point; and Frau Accola absently waved her wand under her nose and cast _apnoea_ on her. Sarah looked astonished as her breath came suddenly easily.

"You have an inhaler of such power?" said Miss Percival.

"Yes" said Frau Accola firmly. She promptly confunded Miss Percival; which was one thing she had been taught to do well in her position in the ministry. "Roseli will escort you and Fraulein Elliot to the Gasthof; you will come to our house for a meal and to sleep, because the child looks exhausted. Then Roseli and the little Fraulein will mount to the school on the cable car for the test and to see if Professor Snape has room; and if so, it would be well if she stays up there on the higher part of the mountain. I will contact Professor Snape and tell him to expect you all. Come; my husband is waiting in the car."

Miss Percival was whisked off without too much protest; Roseli's mother was like that!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Working as she did in the Swiss Ministry, Frau Accola was able to obtain for her daughter a licence to perform the spell _apnoea_ under age and a clause permitting her to do as she needed for the safety of the muggleborn child under her escort.

Roseli was glad; they would be going the long way by muggle railway because of Miss Percival, though she did explain that a special train was usually laid on from Zurich for the school at the proper time with an arrangement to use a private line that was a shorter distance.

Sarah slept for most of the journey and Roseli fielded a lot of questions about the school, firmly telling the governess that the school was namely chiefly for art, music, mathematics and chemistry, the head's own subject. She was glad that she knew the muggle equivalents! She added daringly that Physics was also held in esteem and hoped that she had remembered correctly that such was what Madam Malfoy had compared much transfigurational theory to. She was glad they had an efficient muggle studies teacher in Professor Nuffield! She explained that she was herself there for the art and was an average scholar otherwise and was a bit of a dunce at mathematics because she had trouble with simultaneous equations; and hoped fervently that this was a part of Arithmancy that was also taught to muggles.

Miss Percival said that Sarah was at least good at Maths and had a good ear for language and had not yet had an opportunity to study more than basic science for the want of facilities.

"Mr Elliot had to leave in a hurry for Riyadh; and obviously Arabia is not a place he would have wanted to take Sarah" she said.

"Oh quite" said Roseli, whose knowledge of Arabia was limited to the concept that it was hot and dry, full of pearls, genies and magic carpets. "Well, I expect you'll want to look around the school too; it's pretty strict in term time because we are co-educational so there are rules about dormitories."

"Sarah will not have a room to herself then?" Miss Percival was taken aback.

"Oh no! You don't get forced to have a room on your own unless you're put in isolation for being terribly awfully naughty when you only mix with other people for lessons; Professor Snape had to do it to a boy last year who wouldn't tidy his own kit and was awfully rude to the servants and made them unnecessary work and he had to sleep on his own in his own mess until he apologised" said Roseli. "Which he did pretty quickly. We have dorms with four to eight; there's five in my dorm because that's how many girls there are in my year; there's two girls' dorms for the first because they're short on boys and we're heavy on boys so two of the boys from the second moved in with the two boys in the first, because it is more jolly to have more people, nicht wahr? And I should think Sarah will in the first form be, from what she has said so she will then in Lilac Dormitory be because it has only three girls at present; Pink has six. But it is cramped to be more than six and Professor Snape said that it would be better to have two dormitories one full and one less full. They are allowed to negotiate to change one with another if they get on better with one from another dormitory; there might be some moves this term with everyone sorted out into friends. But Liriope and Cerellia are friends in Lilac and Zoë is a bit of a loner. We call Liriope 'Elephant's Child' – Kipling you know – because she can ask questions forever."

The idea of literary nicknames pleased Miss Percival even if she was taken aback that the idea of a private room was considered only to be a punishment. The small sizes of the classes however sounded ideal.

"How long has the school been running?" she asked. "Is it small by design?"

"Oh there has been a school for more than a century" said Roseli "But Herr Professor Snape took it over oh, three years ago, and brought in new teachers and modernised it a good bit. Some of the teachers had been there pretty much from when it opened I think." Miss Percival naturally assumed THAT was childish exaggeration! Roseli added "I think that Professor Snape does not want there to be many more than a hundred pupils ever because it is better for high talent to have small classes; as he and Madam Malfoy – she teaches under her maiden name – have private means, they can subsidise the school. Professor Snape thinks that there are not facilities for those with unusual talents in ordinary schools; or only in such private academies that make all of the one skill and do not expect some academic excellence in general fields too. We work hard! But we also have strict rules about leisure and rest and we may not do school work in common rooms. And in the winter, Professor Snape takes advantage of good weather that we go out and play and make up lessons on bad days. We are above most of the worst weather; it is jolly to look down on the clouds while we have brilliant sunshine and can ski outside" she added.

"She will learn to ski then?" asked Miss Percival. "I hope it will not make her cough!"

"Oh it is taken gently; and she will learn singing too to help her breathing; we have a very good singing class" said Roseli. "The delicate ones are watched all the time. And we are all responsible for helping each other too; and expected to make such allowances as are needful."

Miss Percival nodded; she was certainly beginning to like the sound of this school!

Sarah was white with excitement and Roseli had to cast _apnoea_ on her by the time they got to the castle by cable car.

"Is he a goblin?" she whispered to Roseli, of Strang.

"Yes; shh!" said Roseli, thanking Strang.

They were greeted by Severus and Krait.

"Perhaps, Miss Accola you will be kind enough to show Miss Percival around" said Severus "Whilst my wife and I put Miss Elliot through the basic tests."

Roseli had bobbed a curtsey on seeing him, and dropped another in acquiescence. All must have been arranged to look as an English governess would expect then; and she smiled politely at Miss Percival to usher her on a tour.

"You curtsey a lot" said Miss Perceval.

"To the head teacher; it is polite to show respect to a figure of authority" said Roseli "As we rise in the English fashion for a professor when he or she enters the room and fall immediately to silence. Courtesy costs nothing and is something that helps the world go round better, nicht wahr?"

"So it is the custom here? I see. It is very like the books of the Chalet School Sarah is so fond of."

"It is too the custom of the Scottish private school where Professor Snape taught before he took over headship of this school" said Roseli "But the uniform here is because his daughters also have read the books; and why too we speak three languages in school. I have with my English much facility now; I knew none when I started school here, not the September that is gone but the one before."

Miss Percival was startled.

"Why my dear child! I had supposed you had learned for many years! You have done extremely well!"

"Thank you; and too, the English children in my class are quite fluent also in German and I believe also French though it is too a second language for me. That I had already learned, living in Switzerland as I do. Here first is the music room; oh, and they have got in the grand piano for Silvina; I am glad! She is by way of being a composer; her form gave us an impromptu concert at the end of term with Silvina's first real piece in it. It was very good, I thought, but I am not really qualified to comment. Next we have the singing room; the piano in here is a little how do you say, dilapidated. It has suffered, you understand, from being misused by unmusical pupils and to having boys put things inside it to explode when a certain note is played; boys being boys . Miss Bat is very tolerant up to a point; so long as jokes are funny and do not go on too long or are played too often. She is retiring soon. I expect that for her last lesson, Angel Hallow Hellibore will arrange an explosion that showers her with her favourite liquorice sweeties. Over here we have the Chemistry Lab" Roseli thankfully read the title on the door of the potions dungeon and showed Miss Percival in to see a strange set of equipment that was almost familiar that constituted a first class chemistry lab.

Other doors were labelled as considerately and Roseli was impressed by the thoroughness of the staff.

The labels had been prepared in case of a visit by any muggle school inspectors; the illusions already programmed into enchantments in each room.

Miss Percival was inclined to cavil at the four poster beds as unhygeinic.

"But no!" said Roseli "No dust is allowed to gather; it means that each in a dormitory may then if she wishes have privacy by drawing the curtains; and also to determine how much air she wishes. Some like to sleep with the window open at all times and some of us abhor this custom as too draughty; especially those of us prone to earache. Thus we may control our own sleeping environment. We are not either permitted fires in our rooms; though hot air is carried to take the chill off the rooms from the flues, if we feel cold we may then draw the curtains. There are always spare plumeaux also, and hot waterbottles if we wish them. We have too light" she indicated the bulb in the headboard that had a press button to activate the _lumos_ spell "If we wish to read until rising bell; but we are on our honour not to read before five thirty or after our age group's lights-out; and only story books. It is forbidden to do prep in dormitories."

She showed the big common rooms too; there were muggle games in here now as well as playing cards and the storybook shelves. The specific wizarding storybooks had been removed, which still left plenty.

"Kipling is popular I see" said Miss Perceval.

"Oh yes; Professor Snape reads to the first and second on inclement evenings and he got through all the 'Just So' stories and 'Jungle Book' last year" said Roseli "He has a very fine reading voice. I am reading 'Kim' at the moment; I borrowed it for the holidays, but I have not had a chance yet to read it, so I shall do so here. We may also put our own books on the shelves here on the understanding that this gives others permission to read them. It is considered polite to check no-one else wants a certain book, or to bag it well ahead if it is popular."

"A nice choice you have already too" said Miss Percival "None of this modern trash in photo-novels – dear me, a horrible phrase for a horrible concept – nice old fashioned books; Chalet school; G.A. Hentry; dear me, Dimsie; I haven't read Dimsie since I was a girl!"

"I expect Professor Snape would be happy for you to borrow the books to reacquaint yourself with" said Roseli. "We may borrow from other common rooms if they give us permission; no-one but prefects may go to other common rooms though without an invite. It stops big ones throwing their weight around with us younger ones, or people like Antti Laakkonen interfering in the older ones' business and getting scragged. He's a prig's prig and interfering and thinks he's better at schoolwork than he really is" she added scornfully "He's mostly harmless if you ignore his silly outbursts but he would sneak for something like filling a prefect's galoshes with jelly and you can't pin a notice on his back saying 'I'm a prig, poke me' because it would make him blub. And he was not kind to Hanna-leena when her mother had died so I do not like him."

"Dear me!" said Miss Percival. They seemed to tolerate jokes here then, but if it was not considered right to pull a jape that would make a child blub, the staff presumably had their finger on the pulse. This child had said something about being on their honour not to have the light on at improper times too; a most unusual but excellent school if the honour system worked!

By the time the tour was completed, Sarah had finished her aptitude tests and interview with Professor Snape and was beaming.

She had had the time of her life; being given a wand to try out and told to see if she could make it do anything; it had produced some coloured stars which seemed to please the Professor. Next he had asked her to stir some odd looking concoction in – of all things – a cauldron just like story book witches had; he said seven stirs widdershins, then explained that meant going counterclockwise. At the seventh stir the potion turned rich dark purple. Professor Snape had smiled and said 'good' about that too. He had shown her some paintings in his office which moved; and Sarah had gasped in surprise.

"That's a new one, Sev mate" said the painting of the untidy looking man with glasses.

"The child is muggleborn, James; she's an artist but she's never seen our type of paintings before" said Professor Snape.

"I'm muggleborn" said the pretty redhead with James "And it is an awful shock at first; you'll LOVE magic!" and she smiled kindly at Sarah.

"Place is already going to rack and ruin" growled the grim faced dark haired man in the other portrait. He looked arrogant. "Goblins and elves in school; mudbloods; that Hermione Granger continually talking back to me; I don't know."

"He likes Madam Granger really" said Professor Snape "Phineas Nigellus is a little conservative; he died in 1926."

"He's DEAD?" gasped Sarah.

"It's the only way you can be a talking portrait" said James kindly "Because you can connect with the portrait and interact with the consciousness that is beyond the veil. Otherwise it would be an ordinary sort of moving picture, like photos are, that move about a bit and show the personality but not ….. she hasn't seen any wizarding photos Severus her face is a study."

"I was about to show her a copy of the 'Times'" said Severus mildly, doing so "Here you see, the pictures move a bit; Lucius Malfoy smirking like he's managed to irritate someone excruciatingly; oh, hardly surprising, the story's about him winning a lawsuit. Lucius loves lawsuits."

"Oh, Roseli said he is your wife's uncle; does he know people who are wizards then? Is HE a wizard?" asked Sarah.

Severus laughed.

"Lucius is one of the most famous – or some would say, notorious – wizards in the world" he said "He's probably the wealthiest and certainly has the oldest traceable wizarding family. There's a Roman mosaic in the cellars of Malfoy Manor that goes back to an earlier family home of theirs. He's a school governor of Hogwarts school – the main British Wizarding school – and he's on the Grand Council. He's also got fingers in many muggle commercial pies too and if anyone is a royal family in the wizarding world, the Malfoys are it; and the Blacks too really. You'll be learning to grind the pigments with magical ritual to paint special portraits; and too to make paintings that move. You have more than enough talent; and if you had only had enough to make some colour change in the potion, you'd have been capable of making magical pigments and that would have justified me taking you into the school. Now, however, I really need to break the news to your parents."

"Mummy won't turn a hair; she always swears there's something in her paintings that almost seems to move" said Sarah "Daddy won't really believe it and might think you're a nutter. Sorry sir, but he will" she added. "Besides, they're in Riyadh."

"Distance is of very little matter to a wizard" said Severus. "Well, well, perhaps I shall go and talk to your mother and take her advice on how to approach your father. I'll see to getting your kit and just bill him for it; and….let me see, Willow can come out here to decide what wand you need. Wands are VERY individual; you can get stars out of a school wand, but out of your own you will get much more."

This was when Roseli brought Miss Percival to the office and Severus sent for tea and cakes.

"Sarah seems perfectly suitable for the school" he said "I can arrange to have uniform and equipment brought so she does not have to go back to London for it; the younger ones do NOT have a tailored uniform so I can send her size and a request for a full outfit for the summer term. She may have grown by September so there's no point getting winter uniform until then. She can choose if she wants flame, brown or cream for her summer frock; we let the girls choose as some are more flattering than others dependant on colouring. With her chestnut hair I think flame would be quite striking; but she is lucky to look good in all, save it were better to get a little more colour in her cheeks before she wears cream. The blazer is brown for when they go out. Some girls too prefer to wear a short sleeved cream shirt and brown skirt; but as she is delicate I advise against this as it can get very hot here in summer, even modified by mountain breezes. I strongly suggest she stays up here; the rooms are cool and airy with the windows open; few enough insects get this high so the rooms require no mosquito bar! The air is clear and clean and you may notice she is already breathing without that little catch in her breath."

"She is; and I am most impressed by what I have seen in your school" said Miss Percival "All that remains is to ask the fees so I may write to Mr Elliot and let him know."

"My fees are six thousand pounds sterling a year" said Severus. "plus eighty pounds per week board for her during the holidays which covers activities, outings and so on. Her art lessons are included; we have teachers to cover most talents and visiting teachers for more individual talents. She will probably want sport equipment – skis and skates as well as more standard equipment; and she is permitted no more than fifteen pounds per week pocket money. Out of this she may purchase sweeties and extra stationary – a prettier pen than school issue say – and such fal-di-dals that little girls seem to find essential which are usually at least not as noisy as the toys little boys seem to find essential; and treating friends and such. She will also find that some breaches of discipline incur fines. The fines from such go towards supporting talented children from poor backgrounds to whom we offer a few free places; and it has been mooted that we should also hold a sale of work to add to that when we have captive tourists in for the summer. We have agreed to open our extensive model railway to tourists on certain days for this purpose too; and the profits from the rack railway also. We have" he added dryly "A very enthusiastic railway club; a whole dungeon room is filled with the products of Mr Hornby's endeavours. And large quantities of papier-mâché scenery. The laundry staff had to be appeased with a big box of chocolates after the amount of green paint, bits of paper and modelling flock found its way into fifteen sets of clothes. I leave it all in the able hands of my Latin Master who is also a railway enthusiast. They learn a lot of incidental history and economics from it; and artists are always in demand to make more scenery" he smiled at Sarah.

"I always wanted a model railway but daddy said a girl wouldn't possibly want to" said Sarah "I wanted to build the Island of Sodor!"

Severus laughed.

"Be careful what you wish for – you might just get it!" he said "That petition HAS been made to me; by my younger children as well! Fortunately there are a number of unused dungeon rooms that are available on that level; so you might yet be doing that – and converting trains of the correct type into Thomas the Tank engine and friends since I am told that the diecast matchbox models are not good enough for serious fans of mature years and are only suitable for babies. And this was by a big boy of nine, so I have to assume big boys and girls of eleven through seventeen and the bigger boy of twentysomething will agree."

"That would be AWESOME!" said Sarah.

She moved into lilac dormitory forthwith.

Willow turned up with a wand.

"White willow with a unicorn hair core" she said "Had a feeling I needed to make it; now I see the kid I know why. Unicorn hair makes the best brushes."

"Better than sable?" asked Sarah.

"Yes" said Willow. "Graphorn hair for oil painting; unicorn mane or tail for watercolour. Willow charcoal for drawing same as for muggles. What's your thing, oil, watercolour of pastel?"

"Watercolour mainly but I guess the portraits need oils?" said Sarah.

"Oh, you can do portraits in any medium; it's just that oils are more colourfast and permanent" said Willow "My brother will be teaching you art until you get a permanent teacher; I'll ask him to bring you out the whole enchilada of kit that he reckons you'll need; rather than have Severus running around like a headless chicken finding out what you need. Your wand will do the best job for you if you concentrate on making the job in hand artistic; like when you're turning buttons into beetles think of pretty beetles. It'll do colour changing charms pretty well too, and illusion magic, and fire writing but it might be stroppy about offensive spells. Stick to imaginative corridor curses if you must quarrel with anyone rather than boring old stinging hexes and jelly-legs jinxes. Wands are supposed only to be a focus for your magic power – like a magnifying glass – but they can have their own quirks of personality. Yours wants to create; it'll get profoundly unhappy if you use it too much to destroy. If I was you, I'd learn to cast the vanishing spell without a wand, to deal with rubbish or with any er, evil concatenations you brew up in your cauldron; wands work so much better for you if you keep them happy."

"The poor child has yet to learn how to use a wand, let alone such refinements as wandless or wordless magic!" said Severus. "Interesting theory by the way."

"I've been writing a bit of a thesis on it in my spare time" said Willow "Because I know a heap about a lot of people with interesting wand combinations. I mean, there's the obvious symbology of the phoenix feather cores of Harry and Riddle; Lilith with an elder wand and basilisk crest core is a bit interesting; it implies mastery and suggests it will be best at controlling spells. Krait's a bit good at that too, though her wand is holly with basilisk crest core; and maybe representing the evergreen aspect of the survival of Slytherin's Heiress with the best of the family that missed her father."

"Or it could just mean that she's prickly at times" said Severus "You write a learned book on it my dear and come to all sorts of conclusions that will be uncomfortably accurate for those of us whose wands you know and it'll be a seminal work for NEWT level enchanting in a few years time. Sarah here doesn't care much; and she'll be here a while before the idea of anything but basic spells sinks in!"

"Well she might as well know now" said Willow equably "Excuse me; I have puppies to feed."

"She means her offspring" said Severus "Her husband is a dog animagus – can turn at will into the form of a dog – and it amuses them to call their children the puppies. Which seeing as half of them are already dog animagi isn't actually strictly inaccurate."

"Oh!" said Sarah.

It was a very strange world she now found herself in it; and she loved every minute!

Sarah's mother looked up from her painting of efreeti with the same big luminous grey eyes her daughter had and regarded Severus.

"Now I haven't been rubbing any lamps or rings and you don't look like a genie" she said "But I swear you appeared out of thin air with a sharp snick and a faint smell of ozone."

"You have a good nose, Madam Elliot" said Severus. She looked at him sharply.

"That's the same form of address Lucius uses" she said.

"Lucius Malfoy? Yes" said Severus "I'm married to his niece; we're both denizens of the wizarding world. Your daughter has talent. I mean magical talent; in addition to being artistic."

Mrs Elliot blinked.

"I'm listening" she said.

"I run a school in Austria" said Severus "Along the lines of a magical Chalet School if you will; one of my pupils encountered Sarah and Miss Percival trying unsuccessfully to find somewhere to stay. Miss Percival is NOT used to travel when she is not, as one might say with some discourtesy but an irresistible pun, part of the diplomatic baggage."

"She is a bit at times" said Mrs Elliot "Means well; rather tedious. But kindly to Sarah; and that was most important. You're offering her a place at your school then?"

"Precisely" said Severus "We showed Miss Percival what she expected to see; labs and so on. She's writing to your husband. Sarah says you are happy to know but is chary about her father's reaction. Parents should know what their children are learning, but I'm more interested in the child's well being than the parents' feelings; so I'd rather lie than have her taken away."

"What do you teach then?" asked Mrs Elliot.

"The brewing of potions; charms, transfigurations, enchanting, chanting, Arithmancy, wizarding history, defence against the dark arts, herbology, divination, geomancy, comparative magic, ancient runes, muggle studies – muggles being non wizards – and Latin" said Severus "As well as music and art in magic for the talented; and quidditch, which is our main sport. Think basketball on flying brooms with added balls" he added. "They learn English, German and French to fluency; we ski and skate in winter and dance too. Chanting will strengthen her lungs, we train opera singing style breathing. I've other asthmatics; and spells to stop an attack in its tracks. And I'll see that all the kids in her year learn that particular spell too" he added.

"Donald would not be entirely happy" said Mrs Elliot "He rather poured scorn on the idea of her seeing fairies in the garden where we were living once; told her she was too big to make up such stories and I had to intervene because he was about to punish her for lying when she insisted she had seen them. I pointed out that if her imagination was so vivid she believed she had seen them he should be proud to have so intelligent and imaginative a daughter who would doubtless grow up to be a great artist or writer not punish her for her lovely fancies. He was afraid she would fail to understand the nitty gritty of the real world. I prefer to ignore the nitty gritty of the real world personally; it isn't pretty."

"There's plenty that isn't pretty in our world as well" said Severus grimly "Racism over blood status – how many generations of pure bred wizarding blood you have, or whether you are a goblin or elf – is rife on the continent. It's being stamped out in Britain. We have bad parents, abusive step fathers, thieves, murderers and megalomaniacs too. There are evil wizards as well as good ones and some people are allergic to fairy bites. We try to equip our children to meet the threats the world may throw at them whilst giving them as happy a childhood as we may. Do you advise me to contact you then for the most part and leave you to handle your husband?"

Mrs Elliot considered.

"I think so; for the time being" she said "Perhaps when this ticklish business he's engaged on is over, we could visit; and he could see for himself what the school does. I KNOW there's more than is dreamed of in his philosophy, but I love him anyway and so does Sarah. If she's HAPPY and WELL, he'll be delighted and will only meep a little about it not being what he's used to. But then he does that about some of the more er, bizarre banquets we've attended in foreign countries."

Severus grinned ruefully.

"Well I believe the phrase 'one man's meat is another man's poison' can be taken as rather close to the knuckle with some foreign cuisines" he said. "I'll send him then a vague bill for her uniform and sports kit rather than an itemised one; and she doesn't need a broom of her own unless she's talented at quidditch as her lungs improve, she can fly on a school broom."

"Tell me one thing – isn't it awfully uncomfortable?" said Mrs Elliot.

"Cushioning charms" said Severus "Not that strictly speaking they are CHARMS but enchantments; tied in permanently to the broom. Like the enchantments that make it streamlined and keep the wind out of the face; and the turbulence breaking charms in the tail twigs. Brooms are very high tech these days; not like the old things the earliest witches and wizards used to put up with. She'll need a cauldron and potioneering kit and dragonhide gloves for gardening in and art kit; but it's a broom that is a single expensive item. A top of the range broom can cost more than a labourer earns in a year; Lucius buys top brooms for those of his kids who are good at quidditch, as soon as they are old enough to be permitted a broom of their own. Hogwarts does not permit it in the first year unless a child is picked for their house team. Prince Peak –my school – has no such rule, but most people use the school brooms. I didn't skimp on them; they're all good middle range brooms with a few good ones for those in the first team. You'll understand more when you've seen a quidditch match" he added. "At that, perhaps Lucius would be best to break it to him; Lucius is very smooth. I'll talk to him" he said.

"Donald isn't sure if he likes Lucius Malfoy or not I think" said Mrs Elliot. Severus gave a harsh laugh.

"That would agree with nine out of ten of the people who know Lucius – except those of us who are close enough to know the sensitive man inside the snide exterior" he said. "Lucius is all right. He's arrogant, proud, snide, and likes to stick his nose into other people's business, the murkier the better. And he'll go out of his way to see all his dependants and tenants are all right and will go to great expense and trouble on their behalf if he has to. His children adore him and so do his women."

"He DOES have more than Narcissa then? I wondered about the other women I have seen him with…."

"He has four including Narcissa and they all live together" said Severus "And more children than any Old Testament patriarch. Well, I shall leave you to it; and if I were you, I'd put a protective rune into that painting. You've enough magical talent near the surface to give near life to that eftreet; excuse me" he took her brush and worked a couple of runes as though carven in stonework on a pillar in the foreground.

She gasped.

"Did – did that thing snarl?" she asked.

"You heard it then?" said Severus "It did; and I feel a lot happier about leaving you alone with it now. I think I might just send you a book on simple protective runes by culture. It has to be an appropriate culture; and if you ever have a query of that nature, write to me. We get muggle post as well as the usual owl deliveries. I do pride myself on my knowledge of ancient runes; though I'm not a top expert. Take care; I'm glad to have met you."

"And I you; to know that Sarah sounds as though she might be about to have the time of her life; and to have you deal with something that was getting out of hand here" she hesitated "I have been dreading working on it; yet was driven to. Has – has it been controlling me?"

Severus looked into her eyes; made a pass with his wand and stepped back.

"You tell me" he said.

She gasped.

"Why – I can see whole memory paths erased of when I have been painting and not realised how much I have done; it has made me use magical techniques!" she cried.

"I have left the knowledge of them intact, ma'am" said Severus "So you can use them deliberately on more benign subjects. THAT fey individual is, however, now trapped forever in that painting; and I suggest you put a layer of emulsion over the top of him and paint something innocuous on him instead – like a nice cool lake. He has tied himself to fire; a painting of something watery – better yet, a waterfall – will negate his power entirely."

"Thank you" said Mrs Elliot, getting out a tube of flake white "I'll do just exactly that; and you, my fine fellow can squirm all you like. Shouldn't have tried to control me" she added.

Severus reflected that if Sarah had half the ability of her mother she'd be a fine artist indeed.

And HOW like the fey to exploit a partially talented muggle!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Hello Leneli! What's up with your sister? Isn't she here?" Muriel Quinn asked her classmate Leneli Accola as they met at the station.

"Oh Roseli had to go back to school early because she picked up this muggleborn who has asthma" said Leneli "And took her to the school. Roseli is like that; I would not give up some of my holiday for some English child I did not know."

"I s'pose if she has asthma, Roseli didn't feel she had much choice" said Muriel "As Professor Snape has potions and such and as the air is good in the mountains. I SAY Leneli, what did you think of the holiday assignment he set us?"

"I think the word is ghastly" said Leneli. "Reading about all those skin and scalp problems to make creams and rinses for made me itch all over!"

"You too?" grinned Muriel. "Seaghsron Snape, if you dare to set me off again by all that theatrical scratching I'll – I'll tell everyone you have chizpurfles!"

Seagh grinned. Advanced medical creams was always good to make fourth years itch; but it was a vital part of the syllabus. After all, more people would want to relive the itch of doxy bites once the poison was squeezed out than would ever use a wit-sharpening potion.

As it happened, though Roseli had remained in the castle with her confederates BaHH, Yrdl and Reinulf, who were also there for the holidays in BaHH's case and as residents of the railhead community for the other two and so available for fun and mischief, Sarah Elliot had been brought along by sundry other residents to enjoy the train experience.

Of the first, the only ones who had left for the holidays were Liriope Hallow, Zoë Gesler, Emma Blaise and Henik Borek. Henik had gone with Arbrek to the home he now shared with the older boy; Zoë was also Swiss; and Emma and Liriope went home to England. Cerellia's mother was spending all she could to put her daughter through school; as Cerellia said dryly, her father paid for her education but not frills like going home for the holidays.

"Does he not want you at home with the family?" asked Sarah, puzzled.

"He doesn't want me near HIS family" said Cerellia "My mother is a courtesan; I'm illegitimate. I've never met any half siblings I may have. I doubt I ever will. My mum was my father's naughty little bit on the side. He's ashamed of me. I get more affection from my gran's boyfriend that she moved in with after my mum's dad died. And for that matter, I HAVE had a nice letter from my grandfather's legitimate son, Lucius Malfoy; he said if I ever needed anything I could go to him, which is pretty decent; I suppose he's my uncle."

"My dad knows Lucius Malfoy" said Sarah.

"Yes, they say he has lots of contacts in the Muggle world" said Cerellia. "Well you're not recoiling at me having a scarlet woman for a mum so I guess you'll be okay in our dorm."

"I must say I think it's your dad who's behaved pretty badly" said Sarah.

"Yes, well, at least he's paid for me to go to school; even if it is a school abroad just so I don't meet his legitimate kids at Hogwarts" said Cerellia "And I guess I get the better bargain; small classes, specialist teaching and some of the brightest and best young professors in the world, most of whom actually fought Voldemort when they weren't much older than us!"

This necessitated long explanations; and Sarah was duly impressed! She liked Cerellia, who was as sarcastic as Sarah was cheerfully frank; and she hoped that Cerellia's other friend Liriope would like her too. Sarah liked friendly Lucy Ingate too; Sylvana Nachtigall seemed pleasant enough, and the goblin twins Vava and Hette and the elf Beta. There had been so many explanations needed; Sarah felt as though she was in quite a whirl! They had all helped her to start to catch up all she had missed of the introductions to all the new, strange courses; and as they were all good at different things it had helped, and too helped her to start to get to know them! Lucy had helped her transfer her maths to Arithmancy – and as it seemed by most to be reckoned the hardest lesson Sarah was glad she found THAT easy – and Lucy was also good at potions. As that was Professor Snape's lesson, Sarah was glad; he had been very kind to accept her half way through the year and to let her start before her father had even said he would pay for her! Hette was good at potions too, and her sister held forth about chanting, that would help Sarah's breathing. With this in mind, Madam Malfoy had actually started on some exercises too! Beta showed Sarah how to transfigure a matchstick into a needle and Cerellia held forth on locomotor charms. She learned that changing colour was NOT a transfiguration but a charm since it was only a superficial difference and that size changing was also a charm for the same reason. A transfiguration had to be a total change of form and function.

It was all rather a lot to take in but Sarah did not at least feel totally ignorant to meet the other two members of her dormitory and the only other boy in the class and the sixth girl in Pink dormitory.

Liriope was first to arrive and predictably 'Elephant's Child' wanted to know everything about the new girl. Sarah, being good natured, did not mind; and finding that the new girl wanted to work hard, Liriope declared that whilst Zoë might not be the sharpest stick in the bundle she too worked her socks off and they were the academic dorm

"And Lucy" said Cerellia. "And Emma works too; and Sylvana. So it doesn't really count. We're a pretty good bunch really now we're not being dragged down by that cat Ortensia. And I say we want to work like stink because all the teachers have moaned that we're not so good a year as the second were and I jolly well want to prove them wrong!"

"Crumbs yes! We need a weevil meeting on the train!" said Liriope.

"There's only us and whoever went home" said Cerellia "We need a weevil meeting in the common room tonight."

Emma Blaise arrived at that moment and was introduced, shook hands and was talked into trying to outdo the second.

"Though I'm only all-round average myself" she said doubtfully "With a few goodish moments in charms."

"You're way better than Eve Cherrytree or the Finnish Flobberworm" said Liriope, throwing out a hand by way of emphasis and whacking Dilys Hornby on the nose. "Oops, sorry!"

"Brat of a weevil, you're in the way; get into a compartment out of the corridor" said Dilys "Or I'll turn you into a cushion for the duration of the journey."

"Sorry Dilys" said Liriope.

"Would she really? Turn you into a cushion I mean?" whispered Sarah as Dilys passed on.

"Well she might try" said Liriope "She PASSED transfiguration at OWL; but I fear more the fact that she might indeed TRY. And what I'd end up as is nobody's business; and having to be rescued from it by Snape. Dilys is rubbish at transfig!"

"Yes and she's not a member of the MSHG either" said Cerellia. Sarah had had THAT explained to her and was itching to be fit enough to run like the others; and had been told firmly by Madam Malfoy that she should make do with a brisk walk at first as Elsie Blackwood and Adrian Petrescu had done.

Zoë arrived at this juncture and greeted Sarah with her customary courtesy that neither asked questions nor told anything of herself. Sarah had been warned by Cerellia that Zoë kept herself to herself enough that when she was old enough to get married she'd probably give birth to aphids by parthenogenesis. On her tail was Henik, with his protector and adoptive cousin Arbrek.

"Hello, Sarah" said Arbrek "I have heard of you from Leneli, Roseli's sister; who is the LIMIT at times; I'm glad you met Roseli not her sister, because that means you got to come to school. Leneli's a bit wrapped up in how things affect Leneli to be that decent."

"I was not wrong then to feel she resented my governess and me staying for a night in the family home then" said Sarah.

"Oh, she's got a big case of chip on shoulder – I think that is the right English phrase – for being half goblin and so some whispers from both humans and goblins are there" said Arbrek. "She is too busy thinking about what rights she should have, she forgets that with rights, also responsibilities there are. But she is a big girl in the fourth and nothing to do with the junior common room."

He left Henik and went searching for his own friends.

"I'll be a year round before I'm allowed to do all sports" said Henik to Sarah "So we can sit things out together if you like; if you don't have anything against goblins."

"I'm muggleborn so I haven't got a clue why I might ought to have anything against goblins" said Sarah "I haven't met a goblin yet that hasn't been a nice person; likewise with humans and elves here. Some are friendlier than others but not everyone wants to jump in to be friendly to a stranger; that's fair enough!"

"Oh, Rudi learned to keep himself to himself when he was a werewolf, before Professor Snape made a cure" said Henik "And Zoë is, I think, unhappy about something and hides behind her work."

Zoë stared.

"How do you know? What business is of yours?"

"I see your face when people talk of families Zoë; and I see you look envious of people like Sylvana and half sympathetic and half contemptuous about Cerellia and me that have fathers who don't want to know. But it isn't any of my business. I'll shut up if you like; but if you want to share it that's what we're here for."

"I shall not tell! It is not your business and I shall not be disloyal!" cried Zoë.

"Here, I say!" said Cerellia "It isn't someone touching you and doing stuff that makes you feel dirty is it?"

Zoë stared.

"No; what do you mean?" she asked.

"Well some grown ups are sort of sick in the head and do grown up things with children" said Cerellia "My mum was offered a lot of money to let me be touched by them and she laid out the fellow who suggested it – she used the levitation charm to drop a chair on his head – and she went to the aurors about it."

"Oh! That's AWFUL!" said Zoë. "Your mother is a good mother and brave to stand up to such! No, nothing like that happens to me."

"Oh, I shan't ask any more then" said Cerellia "You see, the Auror explained to me that men make the children they're hurting feel that it's their own fault and so they won't tell but when grown ups do bad things it isn't the children's fault. I can't see how they make you think it but it's a sort of compulsion, the auror said and it's a compulsion even muggles can do, called brainwashing so you believe you have to be loyal to the person who's hurting you. It seems rum to me" she added meditatively.

"What if they hurt you accidentally? That's not their fault!" said Zoë.

"'Tis if they were being careless" said Cerellia. "Like – like Professor Snape's face being burned because a naughty girl knocked over something by accident, but she didn't ought to have been in his dungeon in the first place."

"What if it IS the child's fault?" said Zoë.

"You can't be hypothetical young Zoë if you don't tell us the story" said Liriope.

"It is because I am pure blood" said Zoë, bursting into tears "And papa wanted to send me to Durmstrang; and maman said that it is rough and violent there and full of bullies; and here was a school of good reputation and English tradition on our very doorstep with small classes where I would learn better. And papa does not like me associating as friends with goblins even though he thinks it is all right to work with them; he works with Roseli and Leneli's father. And I wanted to come to a good school that was not useless like Beauxbatons is but papa and maman now are quarrelling and – and I have not made close friends with anyone, goblin or not, and I don't really care what someone is so long as I can study and – and I don't know what to do because if I say anything I am disloyal to one of them!"

"Huh" said Sarah "It sounds to me as if they are disloyal to you in letting their personal prejudices interfere in your schoolwork; your father for making a big drippy fuss about nothing and your mother for not just telling him quietly that arguing in front of children is wrong. My parents always go out if they want to argue and do it in the middle of a field somewhere and come back friends. I don't like it but at least I don't have to hear them sounding childish. Grownups always sound childish when they argue; one of the other diplomatic couples used to row all the time and actually, mummy and daddy haven't had ANY rows since then and when they have a difference of opinion, one of them says 'Emma and Jake' and they laugh and kiss and make up so I guess they found out how childish it is. Why don't you write to them that you have a new friend who is a – what is it the rude ones say – a mudblood and see how THAT takes them? 'cos if they care about YOU they'll accept any friendship."

"But I don't have a new friend" said Zoë.

"Well we're dorm mates and Liriope and Cerellia are friends; so we can see if we are" said Sarah "Besides we have names that anyone can pronounce without a er, NEWT in Ancient Runes and tongue twisting."

"Oy, I think I resent that!" laughed Liriope.

"Her point though" said Cerellia.

"How about it Zoë?" said Sarah. "It's not disloyal to wish that your parents would grow up a bit; and having friends is about sharing troubles. I guess everyone suffers from parents a bit; my dad still doesn't know I'm a witch, mum is going to break it to him gently! He doesn't believe in magic you see. And I reckon at least your parents would feel guilty if you also wrote how nice it was to be back at school in peace and quiet so you don't have to hear them rowing and you only hope that worrying about them won't upset your grades. See, my dad's a diplomat; and so I know how to say things to make people think and do what you want. And you want them to think, and take YOU into account, don't you?"

"I – yes I suppose so" said Zoë. "I was going to work hard and think only of my work so I would not have time to worry though."

"Well don't tell them THAT!" said Sarah "Tell them that you are working hard to try not to worry but let them think it isn't working. Daddy says it's as much the way that you say something – or even carefully DON'T say something – that makes people act the way you want them to. And it's best if you can stop them quarrelling, isn't it?"

Zoë nodded.

"Will you help me write it?" she said.

"Of course I will!" said Sarah. "And you'll join the MSHG which is there to help people in all sorts of ways."

That meant that the entire of the first now belonged to the MSHG!

Back in Prince Peak castle, Hunnic and Walther had returned from a mission on which Severus had sent them. The looked very different characters to the scruffy villains Jade had brought to the castle; Severus had regrown Hunnic's fingers where the exploding matchlock had blown them off; and both looked well fed, and had lost the pinched, mean look of those who will do anything to make sure they get the next meal. Walther was now a good looking young man who had the charm of not having yet realised it, and he was studiously growing his hair, now flaxen and soft rather than tow-coloured and lank with dirt, to wear in imitation of the way Severus wore his long hair, caught back in a loose tail with a black satin ribbon. Hunnic looked fitter and harder than many goblins; having been a muscle man already and both having been encouraged by Severus to run with the MSHG once they had been fed enough to have the energy; and Walther too was starting to gain muscle mass. They would do anything for Severus – or Jade for that matter. Born in poverty, crime had been their only option; Walther had no idea of his blood status, being the son of a cheap whore who could not have afforded Durmstrang, or even a small school, even if her son could prove himself eligible; she had died from a violent client when Walther was about twelve anyway, and he lucky to have been out stealing or he too might have died. Hunnic as a goblin had never been eligible for any kind of education; he had some knowledge of reading, which was more than Walther had. Severus had patiently taught them to read and had bought them wands; Hunnic could not carry his out of the castle as yet, though he marvelled that Severus explained that when the law in Germany was changed to permit educated goblins to carry wands, if Hunnic worked hard enough to gain a DOE, the new English certificate of basic education, that would permit him to do so. Severus had also pointed out there would be plenty of people even so who would cast the killing curse at a wand bearing goblin first and ask if he had education after. Hunnic was glad the new boss understood the realities of life!

Severus had asked his strong arm men to reconnoitre the castle where the sleeping werewolves were; and they had returned from there.

"There was some guards, see" said Hunnic "But there ain't no more."

"They was in Odessa uniform" said Walther "And we figured if this Duke Ferret character had hired them, he'd of made them shed that, account of there ain't no Odessa no more 'cos Fraulein Von Strang sicked herself on 'em. So we sort of permanentually lost 'em."

"We garrotted them" said Hunnic "Quick and quiet and no magic trace."

"They weren't very good guards then" said Severus dryly "You two are good, but you aren't that good – yet. You will be!" he smiled "I shall be teaching you commando techniques."

They beamed at him. They had no idea what commando techniques were, but if the boss reckoned something to it, it must be good.

"Well we're better nor we was" said Hunnic "We ain't never had it so good as working for you, boss! And they was kinda lax; not taking it serious-like. Well, the castle is pretty much a ruin, but the bits wot aren't broken was all locked up; and that ain't no bar! See, boss, locks come in three sizes; itty-bitty delicate ones for ladies' jewel cases and to keep love letters in an' such; medium size ones what normal folks like you and me might use on proper houses; and outsize ones for them as has outsize properties ter meet their outsize egos" he considered "Or schools o'course I s'pose" he added reflecting that some of the keys to Prince Peak were pretty large. The external ones, anyway. "So I got my key-ring out" he took a ring from his pocket with three different sized pieces of metal on them. "See, these ain't lockpicks; they're goblin made, see; they fit any lock within their size range. Been in my fambly fer generations; neat, innit?"

"Extremely" said Severus, managing to sound sufficiently admiring to hide the fact that he well knew about such things; that indeed Harry owned such a thing and the Marauders were using the goblin metalworking techniques learned in Hogwarts to make their own Marauding keys.

"Yeah, well!" Hunnic preened "So we gets in, and pokes about; we follers the footsteps in the dust and I says to Walther, 'ere mate, we don't want ter leave no more footsteps; so he uses that cleaning spell with his wand what you taught us, what's the best we could come up with."

"It blows the dust to the sides of the corridor which is all we needs" said Walther, "Once we done seen where they go. And there's this big dungeon room – cor it was creepy!" he shuddered "All these not-dead bodies laid out on trestle tables in long lines, like a costoom parade startin' wiv medyevul and comin' up ter date; and some of them have eyes harf open; talk about creepy!"

Severus' breath hissed in, in a gasp of horror.

"Likelihood those poor bastards will be blind" he said "No eyelid to keep the eyeball moist; and nobody checking on their wellbeing!"

"They looked like they was watchin' us, them ones" shuddered Hunnic. "We was glad to make the count and get out, I can tell yer boss!"

"I am sorry to cause you misgivings" said Severus "But you knew THEY could not hurt you."

"Yeah, well…." Hunnic shrugged.

Severus nodded. "There is a difference between knowing; and feeling" he said.

"Well, straight up boss, if you hadn't of explained what had been done and what they was, we'd of cut and run minute we saw 'em" said Walther "It make a difference havin' a boss what tells it straight and gives it all on the line."

"It isn't really fair otherwise" said Severus "Unless there is something you would not understand; when I should have to explain that, and ask you to trust me that I know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah boss; but you'd be straight about it" said Hunnic "That's what we means; we doesn't mind you SAYIN' that you isn't tellin' us everyfink; it's not telling everyfink and lettin' us find that out later the hard way we doesn't like, what most bosses does."

Severus unravelled that and smiled and nodded, laying a brief hand on the shoulder of each.

"Thank you for your loyalty and bravery" he said softly. "How many were there?" this was the information he had sent them to find; it would be a long while before they were well enough trained to get there without preamble and rigmarole.

"Forty nine" said Walther "And we checked by countin' them lef' to right an' then again right to lef'. And it was the same so nuffin' confunding to stop a good count."

"Forty nine!" said Severus "And of them some who will not survive the awakening process of course…."

"One of 'em won't" said Hunnic "'E was startin' ter rot; 'ad maggots on 'im. Funny fing was, they'd gorn ter sleep too."

"Affected by the draught of living death in his tissues" said Severus "Bizarre; I suspect THAT was rather er, creepy too."

"You said it boss!" agreed Walther.

"Well" said Severus "Eight youngsters are taking the NEWT in potions here; about as many in Hogwarts; and I believe a couple in the free school. Eighteen cauldrons; more than fifty doses, and that allows for any who make a complete mess of it. Good; that should be enough. If it is not I must brew some Wiggenweld potion myself. That works out rather nicely; and it means I shan't have to worry about finding more unicorn horns to make any urgently. You both did well; and now I'm going to ask you to go back and keep watch; you need not be inside! But I want to know if anyone approaches; and if it isn't Von Frettchen, I'd like you to pick up anyone who approaches and bring him to me. I'll assign an elf to you to apparate you around; a free elf of the Von Strang family. Whom you may assume to be an equal; NOT an inferior. The elves who work here for pay are intelligent and capable of much initiative."

"Yes boss" said Hunnic dubiously. He figured that if one enjoyed the benefits of the boss not talking down to goblins, you had too to put up with the dubious concept of him treating free elves the same too. Well some were scholars and that made them better than him; but then he was a scholar too of sorts so that made him better than most goblins, and humans too.

In the event, Hunnic had nothing to complain of in Fritti, a grizzled old elf who was extremely capable and who explained that he didn't like violence, but then he didn't like violent people even more and displayed a very efficient sap with a sleep charm on it.

His apparating was smooth too, and neither strong arm man felt any kind of discomfort normally associated with side-alonging.

And as Fritti started to teach them to apparate to while away the time, the pair decided he was a damn good partner!

Fritti thought them low; but Mr Severus saw potential in them, so it was up to him, Fritti, to raise their class for Mr Severus as well as increase their usefulness by teaching them apportation.

The children of the school knew nothing of this of course; especially the NEWT class, who did not yet know that their examination would mean life and hope to a number of werewolves. It would stay that way; or their exam would be devalued. Severus had already touched on the Wiggenweld Potion as a counter to the Draught of Living Death, reminding them of the old story muggles called 'Sleeping Beauty'. It was something he always taught. Antidotes should always be taught alongside the potions themselves and each had received exactly as much attention as the teaching of Amortentia and its best counter, Liberamore Major. And at least this year's NEWT students had not giggled about Amortentia; the only two who were likely to be flippant being Bethany Dubois, who was gregarious, had no trouble making friends, and saw those who used Amortentia as poor saps; and James Hubble-Langstaff who was, as a boy, not a giggler anyway, and in need of concentrating hard on his work not to lose his 'E' average. The rest were serious and most were family anyway, Tala, Seagh and Harmony being blooded, Angelica close to the family, and only Alison Plank not close; and Alison was a girl who would be more the 'famous sneering agelast' than Severus himself had she not a fine sense of the ironic.

The final few lessons before the exam would be on the theory of brewing Felix Felicis and lectures on its use and abuse and the dangers of failed batches. And the more important to drum the message into them that abuse of Felix – or indeed failed Felix – was dangerous, since it appeared that Felix abuse was on the increase.

And of course for most of the pupils it was business as usual, with the added detail of end of year exams.

The end of year exams might prove interesting.

As soon as the school had settled back in to the castle, the first had proceeded to hold a noisy and determined meeting that determined that they intended to do as well as the current second had done for their end of year exam; and that to this end it was the responsibility of all to catch up the new girl too so she made at least as good a showing as the Finnish Flobberworm. Severus winced at this description and wished the first had for one thing an ounce of tact, and for another would not have such noisy meetings that he could hear them in his office.

This led to protests from the second, who shared a common room with the first, and an equally noisy determination to outstrip the first in the matter of grades to show them up for using rude nicknames on one of their own number which was only permitted for classmates, so there.

It was a matter of time before the first jinx was thrown and Severus glanced at the clock on his mantelpiece and gave them ten minutes before he went to sort them out. That should give them time to relieve feelings of rivalry.

Antti Laakkonen ran in before the ten minutes had elapsed, forgetting to knock and to bow screaming that all the junior common room were murdering each other.

Since Severus had felt nothing but childish abandon and enjoyment yet from Yrdl, to whom he was blood-joined, he felt no compunction about sending Antti out of the door with an order to enter and behave like a civilised being not a denizen of the bear pits of Berne and to be ready to apologise first after he had made his bow.

Antti obeyed sulkily and then made his complaint.

"Yes Mr Laakkonen, I can hear the ruckus in here" said Severus coolly. "I was going to break it up when the minute hand touches the ten; I hear no sounds of real distress. You bring me no news of any actual injuries. Common room fights, provided they are not permitted to go on too long, hone the skills that may later be used for fighting the forces of darkness. I know that such frightens you truly; which is why I am NOT going to have a go at you for sneaking. But my dear boy, try to learn that some people let off steam in a more robust way than you enjoy; and watch and learn, even if you don't like to join in! Especially as the second, from what I have heard, started the fight to defend YOUR honour because the first were rude about you."

Antti flushed.

"I do not like trouble" he said "I just want to be left alone to do my work."

"I know better than you realise" said Severus kindly "I was given a rather unpleasant nickname by those who did not understand that I was swotty and wanted to work, when I was at school; but Antti! You need not make the same mistakes I did; you can meet them half way. You're as scatty as any Hubble, and that affects your schoolwork; if you would but realise that the likes of BaHH can afford to misbehave because he's brilliant enough to keep up easily with the work and would ask him for a bit of help sometimes you would do so much better! Or Blaise Paddock; who I can guarantee you is not taking part in the row but is placidly reading a book right in the middle of the mayhem. Let him bring you to the MSHG and we can all help you find strategies to cope with your disorganisation; even Rose has improved with a bit of such help! Now, the time I set has more than elapsed so excuse me; I have a fight to stop and doubtless people to unjinx" and he got up, leaving Antti to follow as best he might, hopefully cogitating on his headmaster's words.

"Here young Laakkonen" said James' portrait "It was me that picked on Professor Snape when he was a kid; we've made it up since, but don't go thinking that those who call you names are necessarily meaning to bully you; because it was a shock to me to be called a bully."

"They do not bully me sir" said Antti carefully "They are kind in a sort of exasperated way and help me find things when I lose them; but they call me the Finnish Flobberworm and I wish they will not."

"Well, lad, the trouble is, if you give them ANY excuse, small boys WILL find a rude name" said James. "If I was you – you ARE the one who's not bad at potions when he remembers his kit aren't you? – I would surreptitiously brew the bone softening draught and poison them a little bit, then ask them who are the flobberworms."

"I couldn't do THAT sir! It would be against the rules!" said Antti, shocked. James sighed.

"Sometimes you have to break the rules – and accept punishment if caught – in order to make a point" he said. "Because sometimes justice is bigger than law; doing the right thing is bigger than the rules. No, you aren't going to, are you? Ah well, you've had my advice for what it's worth; you'd better run along."

Antti ran, shocked that a portrait of someone famous – he had to be famous if he was in the Head's office and he looked enough like the famous Harry Potter to be some relative – should incite him to bad behaviour! Perhaps it was a test to see that he truly was as virtuous as he appeared!

James meanwhile sighed. The Finnish Flobberworm seemed a pretty accurate nickname to him!

Severus meanwhile broke up the fight by the expedient of summoning water to spray randomly on scrapping juniors.

Blaise Paddock was indeed curled up with a book with his fingers in his ears oblivious to – or at least, ignoring – the row around him; otherwise it was a fairly universal tangle of bodies. Severus was glad to see the new girl joining in enthusiastically, with her legs wrapped around Emil Villeneuve's neck while Beta Kalinka cast the tickling curse on him.

With the cold water the fight fell apart.

"Hmm" said Severus "Apparently we have accidentally acquired an infant school. As it is already almost six o'clock and a good bedtime for infants, you may go forthwith to bed, where you may refrain from reading, except Mr Paddock who may go to bed at his usual time, as may Mr Laakkonen. Dear me, Miss Breuer WHAT has happened to you?"

Hette grinned cheerfully through a face covered in hairy pustules.

"No idea, sir" she said.

Severus restored her usual appearance, undid Engelram from a ball shape, restored Sylvana's eyebrows from where they were fluttering independently around the room, removed zits, pustules, spider legs and tentacles as appropriate and told them to march.

They marched.

And it may be said they were all sleeping the sleep of the exhausted when Sirri came to check on them half an hour later.

"Kids" said Severus. "Sometimes I wonder why I continue to teach!"

"Because you'd get bored if you didn't" said Sirri. "You'll dine out on this with Lucius."

"You're probably right at that" said Severus.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Seagh was quite looking forward to the NEWTs. He knew he was well prepared; and he had followed the advice always promulgated by Marauders, learn as you go along and you don't need more than minimal revision. He felt refreshed and relaxed.

The first exam was Arithmancy. There were five of them taking that, a large enough class even for Hogwarts, though Seagh hoped that the percentage would be higher overall at Prince Peak as the academic excellence became more established with the emphasis on achievement and talent. One of those entering was Cenric Grant, who had done well to catch up as well as he had over the year's study; though he had worked hard through the last summer holidays as well. The others were Tala Ulwin, James Hubble Langstaffe and Alison Plank. Seagh considered that Tala was an arithmancer and the others competent at Arithmancy.

The exam consisted of three parts as usual; a section of long questions, a section of short questions, and the final equation, now traditional, introduced with the ominous word 'explain'. Seagh flicked through the paper before starting to write and grinned. The last equation was simple – at least to anyone who had taken part in the ritual chants to totally vanish the various Odessa bases. It was nothing more or less than the equation of the _evanesco_ spell.

He glanced at the clock to allow himself twenty minutes for that, and set to on the long section. The first question required the delta-A of the otherplace route from one place to another of an apportation and needed a careful bit of differentiation; next a question on probability of coin tossing, requiring a simple application of Wenlock numbers with the added complication of deciding the number of syllables a chant would require to make it come down heads thirteen times; which to Seagh's mind was dead easy. He hated the sort of questions that asked for the time it would take to fill a tank allowing for a certain rate of flow of water using _aguamenti_ but he worked it out and added 'it would aye be quicker to just summon the requisite amount all in one from a nearby lake.'

There were no big surprises in the short questions, the usual numerological calculations on marital partners, calculations on the best time to break curses, and so on.

Then it was the long question and Seagh wrote busily and happily about the Vanishing Spell with unnecessary notes on the numbers of syllables needed for a chant and the number of wizards involved to use it to remove anything really large.

He and Tala grinned at each other after the exam.

"Piece of cake" said Seagh.

"Rather!" said Tala. "What a hoot the _evanesco_ question was!"

"Cobnuts! Was THAT what it was?" said Cenric "I could tell it was a movement spell through some sort of elsewhere; but that was about it. I even integrated it to see what I got!"

"What did you get?" asked Seagh, interested. Cenric showed him his rough workings.

"Not a lot" he said.

"Whisht!" said Seagh "That's awfu' interesting, Cenric; I'm thinking ye micht hae found a new universe forebye; I'd no' chuck yon paper awa' if I wis you; it micht come in handy some day!"

"Or not" said Cenric "Here, you have it; I shan't ever be able to use it, if you can, I wish you joy of it!"

Next was Potions. Cenric was taking this too, by way of a retake to improve his grade; he had attended those classes he felt poor in. Nobody who was taking potions felt in any way unhappy; Harmony and Dilys knew they were the weaker two in the class but were still confident of a good grade, having each had an 'E' average all year. Cenric too hoped for an 'E' and felt far more confident than he had the first time he had taken the exam!

The practical was a surprise; Dilys had suggested that as some years had passed since the Draught of Living Death had been set, it was due to make a comeback. To brew its counter, the Wiggenweld Potion, was a surprise as this had not, to the knowledge of any of the students, ever been set before. Especially as nobody had actually brewed it, since it was covered only in theory for the expensive ingredients – unicorn horn and phoenix feathers being among them. A note on the exam paper asked the students to be as vigilant as possible in their brewing since their draughts were to be used by some unfortunates discovered to be under the draught of living death, explaining why a potion costing better than twelve galleons per student would be set for an exam.

Seagh's eyebrows went up; it would explain why his father had been secretive over some of his conversations with Von Frettchen; these sleeping unfortunates were something to do with Odessa and quite rightly nothing of it had been conveyed to him, Seagh, as a NEWT student.

Nobody, thought Seagh, who had reached NEWT level, should fail to be able to brew a potion that had been written down even if they had never brewed it before; because they should all have learned the potions of this level by heart in case a question came up in the theory paper with the ingredients and a demand that the method and the potion's effects be explained.

He got on with it.

So did the others; and nobody seemed displeased with their results. The faintly silvery clear liquid in each cauldron seemed good enough.

"I suppose the ministry have come across a load of people stashed by Voldemort and want to find out who they were" said Tala afterwards.

"I think it's to do with things Jade's been up to, and dad" said Seagh. "He's been awfu' distant about discussing potions revision with me; more so than usual with one of his own."

"It sort of figures" said Harmony.

The written seemed easy enough; they were glad to have had the last lesson on Felix Felicis, since that and its dangers were featured; and likely enough because the examiner felt the same way as Professor Snape about it, was the general consensus. Nobody thought for an instant that this being the last lesson was in any way indicative of Severus giving them a tip; that was the LAST thing he would do. There was a question too on Amortentia and its counter; obviously it was a year to remind pupils that potions could be dangerous. New was the printing of Malfoy lines to identify potions from; then a final question listing ingredients and the single question 'what?'

Tala actually chuckled and had to swallow it; she knew Wolfbane potion when she saw it! She wrote happily that this potion was now no longer needed thanks to the cure invented by the great Professor Snape who had rescued all in the unwilling bondage of lycanthropy, though one must give every credit to Mr Damocles Belby for his potion that enabled one to have more control. Tala knew nothing of the rivalry between Horace Slughorn and Severus, and how Horace felt cold all over when he remembered that he had ignored skinny and unprepossessing Severus Snape instead of making a favourite of one who was to become known as the greatest potioneer of all time. She was just too pleased not to be a werewolf!

Seagh knew more of Severus and his feelings for Horace; and managed to get in the odd sly dig about Damocles Belby's potion being superseded by a true cure by unique and truly revolutionary techniques.

Only James and Alison were taking Charms; and they declared it 'not bad'.

Transfiguration involved both Seagh and Tala again; also Angelica, James and Alison. Angelica's performance in class might be described as 'steady' rather then brilliant; but she hoped for an 'E'.

There was nothing unexpected in the theory paper; questions on Gamp's law, theory of assimilative correlation, human transfiguration and such; all questions which could be answered in half a page or less. Nobody had any difficulty with this.

The practical included the usual complex summoning spells, requiring the summoning of an object of the candidate's choice; which was generally taken by serious students to be the production of some living thing, as being most complex; Seagh produced a dwarf peach tree that flowered and came to fruit in front of the examiner and explained that he had added extra energy to add permanence to the tree which rather made a mockery of Gamp and his exceptions did it no' since fruit was a food. The examiner was fortunately the laconic Randall Hopkirk who was used to some of the more offbeat of Severus' disciples and children. He merely pointed out that the exceptions referred to raw summoning without the post-NEWT refinements of permanency.

"Weel, ye ken, it's a hot day so I thocht I'd juist use the extra tae drop the temperature" said Seagh.

He had a cheap fiddle to turn into a cat next, the usual transfiguration, with its extra points for complexity of markings and pedigree. Seagh had intended to go for an Egytian Mau; but the fiddle he had was a white painted one with transfer decorations of other members of the violin family on it – a truly ghastly instrument for playing – and promptly turned it into a pregnant white cat who proceeded to give birth to four kittens, one for each of the transfers, ranging from dark ginger through cream. The mother had golden eyes; Seagh saw no reason to inflict her with the deafness that goes with blue eyes in a white cat, even if such might have been advantageous if listening to so poor an instrument as she had once been. It might too have been a closer piece of assimilative correlation if she had been deaf; but Seagh was both practical and softer hearted than he was wont to pretend. Randall Hopkirk asked if Seagh minded if he kept the cat since he had children old enough to start to learn to care for kittens. Seagh was delighted and agreed happily. He knew the story of how cousin Callum had managed to save the triplet children of Mr Hopkirk by having a vision in the Divination exam; and wished the babies well. They would be two years old this summer.

Tala, James and Alison managed pedigree for their cats; Angelica played safe and stuck to a tabby. She would lose a few marks, she knew, because the stripes on her cat's body were shaped like the sounding holes; but at least she had conjured a nice bunch of roses with maidenhair fern to back them, far more complex than summoning a single species.

Eight of them were taking defence against the Dark Arts; the questions covered mostly the unforgivable curses, cursed wounds, and the uses of the Patronus. Seagh knew that the bonus points on this would be on knowing that a patronus could also be used to drive off a Lethifold attack as well as Dementors; and thought it worth mentioning too that as a patronus could be used to send messages, using one to call for help if outclassed was not a half bad idea too. There was a bonus question on what a horcrux was; a question only Seagh, Tala and Harmony could answer since it was the Blood Group that really discussed such things.

The practical was the standard duel with the examiner permitted the use of the two non fatal unforgivable curses and Seagh considered it too hot to get too creative and promptly turned Mr Hopkirk into a set of bagpipes enchanted to play 'My Old Man's a Desplincher' with the awareness of what was happening left to him.

Returned to normal, Randall Hopkirk declared that if that was the standard punishment for being a dark wizard it had to be worse than Azkaban, Dementors and all as in the old days.

Angelica Harmony and Tala demonstrated an ability to resist offensive spells and used the combination of _Expelliarmus, langlock _and _levicorpus_ as being likely to disable most people; Hester Figg managed to disarm the examiner and use magical ropes to bind him but no more; and James used a full body bind but failed to disarm. Alison turned him into a sunflower on the grounds that so frivolous and gay a plant ought to depress any dark wizard.

Seagh, Tala and Angelica were the only ones taking Chanting to NEWT.

It was a long paper, mostly involving the design of chants to break various specific curses and credit given for appropriate language chosen and arithmantic calculation used in the design. Angelica had no Arithmancy to speak of, save what little she had picked up from such as Seagh; but she was taking Ancient Runes to NEWT and hoped to pick up points there. Tala was taking both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy to NEWT and hoped to pick up marks; she had only gained 'E' in her OWL in chanting but had been working hard and had been gaining better marks over the last year. The greater options on designing chants enabled her to shine more; and too she had been improving her voice and lung capacity. Seagh looked on chanting as almost as natural as breathing and enjoyed the paper.

The practical involved adding a counterpoint to a basic chant to uncurse a headache-causing hat that also had to have taken off it the curse that would not permit the wearer to remove it; and to enchant a circle to exclude snakes. Angelica managed her counterpoint and used Hindi to exclude her snakes and a lot of cribbing from Kipling; Tala unravelled the hat along with the curse, and Seagh added a double counterpoint with ghostly music to aid his chanting. Both used Parseltongue to exclude their snakes.

Ancient Runes came next. This too was Seagh, Tala and Angelica and Cenric. The paper consisted of three passages and the single question 'discuss with reference to the use of language and symbolism the differences and similarities of the approach of each author and draw conclusions on what was most important to them and their culture'.

One text was in Linear B; one in Cuneiform; and one in Egyptian Hieroglyphs. They all described the events of the volcanic explosion that wrecked the island of Thera.

Seagh considered it a fascinating study, and by the way she was scribbling frantically so did Tala. Angelica was sighing a little; she had trouble with Hieroglyphs. Cenric seemed happy too.

Basically the text in Linear B decried the terrible waste of lives of scholars, and the loss of learning, despairing over the destruction of the college of magic and the fact that only a few of its wizards had escaped. The Cuneiform passage was more concerned with the politics of the situation, how the falling of a civilisation would affect the world stage – as they knew it – of political power. There was some gloating that the college of magic and its 'new and heretical studies' had been lost, and a suggestion – for this was in the form of a letter – that political capital could be made of this by hinting that the explosion had been caused by the Theran wizards tinkering with things that they did not understand, which, as the writer said, might even be true but it was unimportant if it were not. It is the rumours that do the damage, not truth. The Egyptian account was a letter too, written to a factor in Knossos asking what the effect would be on trade with this colossal disaster. Demands were made to rescue any texts that had been saved from the catastrophe and smuggle them by any means to Egypt where studies might then be made of them; a belated offer of asylum to any wizards or scribes who might find a home in Egypt where they might be pumped dry of knowledge to make some gain out of economic crisis. Seagh grinned as he thought of Ekonimikrisis the merchant in Asterix and wrote fluently about the different approaches. And noted snidely in passing that not one of the texts had actually held a note of compassion for the poor ordinary people of Thera; even those of their own culture writing in Linear B were more concerned with loss of knowledge than with a human tragedy. He added that it was interesting that the Hittite wizards had done a better propaganda job than they might have guessed since there were still muggle conspiracy theorists who believed that alchemists on Thera had been tampering with something they did not understand and caused the volcanic eruption.

Seagh and Cenric were the only ones taking comparative magic and Seagh was glad they had had Ellie Devlin Fraser's undivided attention this last year with Annett Breuer teaching Herbology. Ellie had loved to have an advanced pupil in her favourite subject but had been wont to wander off on diatribes about idiot fourth years and what they did with dragon dung.

The exam consisted of one long question and several shorter ones. The main question this year was on voodoo and Seagh ran his hands through his hair to look like Jareth and resisted the urge to write 'hoodoo? Do what? Remind me of the babe!'. He carefully listed all the loa in both their light and dark aspects and wrote about their areas of influence; and described the differences between the creation of a voodoo zombie and an inferius and noted that some voodoo magic required the inherent magical power to be found in a large number of the population to accept and increase a ritual laid upon them and effectively to take part in their own magical murder. Chanting, he noted, was of particular importance, and counter-ritual by opposed loa was used extensively. Voodoo ran close to being the Dark Arts he wrote and fell into one of those grey areas.

The short questions covered variously the traditions of fey in other societies, shapeshifters of various kinds, and the use of music. Seagh interpreted the question on music loosely with a brief foray into the explanation that the Saxon word for music and the Old Norse for runic spell had the same root and both were used magically similarly. He also referenced back to the voodoo question and the use of hypnotic patterns of drum beats.

It seemed as though time flew!

Afterwards, Cenric said,

"WHAT was the other name of Baron Samedi?"

"Ghede" said Seagh.

"Damn! Of course it is!" said Cenric "I don't think I did as well on shapeshifters as I might have done; I remembered werewolves of course, rakshasa, animagi, fox spirits; what did I leave out?"

"Bearsark, Selkies, Badger Spirits and several weird African ones that nobody ever remembers" said Seagh. "I referenced that shapeshifting is also known in the African tradition and is looked upon with suspicion, You also left out the Scythian snake woman but she IS a bit esoteric."

"Oh well; hopefully I shan't lose too much on a short question" said Cenric "I feel I did reasonably well on the rest."

Seagh grinned. He doubted anyone knew the fey the way he knew the fey; and nor did Cenric know as much as him about music. But Cenric was probably on for an 'E'; it was just tradition for Severus Snape's children to write too much and know more than was required.

Seagh had now finished. Harmony was taking geomancy, herbology and history; Angelica and Dilys were taking enchanting.

Harmony found her various items for the standard Geomancy test and wrote what she fondly hoped was a reasonably good paper; Herbology was at least only the harvesting of Mandrakes that Harmony took in her stride, subduing hers with the tickling charm.

History was her main interest; and that was in no small part because her History Professor was a main interest of hers too.

There were four questions to be picked out of eight. She dismissed out of hand 'outline the development of wizarding government from early informal movements to the formation of international agreements' and 'discuss the factors that led to the goblin rebellion of 1612' picking 'discuss the changing relationship with muggles in the years that led to the statute of secrecy' as her first one; that covered muggle religion as well but had a lot of interesting points to follow up. For her second she chose 'discuss the use of Merlin as a figurehead to further the ambitions of the unscrupulous in the two centuries following his death'. That was something she and Percy had talked about extensively. She pulled a face over 'outline the diplomatic overtures taken towards the last surviving giant community in Britain and the reasons for its breakdown' and 'Outline the reasons behind the myth that witches were burned in England' – that was easy enough, it was a matter of those who wanted to see muggles kept as beasts but it was not something Harmony wanted to write about. Better was 'Chart the rise of Gellert Grindelwald and discuss his infamous aphorism and its effect on the Germanic psyche and estimate the threat to England as a result of his ascendancy'. That meant to write about how the slogan 'for the greater good' called to the Germanic love of duty. The fourth title she chose was 'discuss how far the fact that goblins were almost unknown to Roman wizards affected the general antipathy between goblins and humans after the Roman invasion'. This was something else she had debated with Percy; that there were cultural as well as racial differences DID make a difference; the goblins failed to become Romanised as easily as the Romano-Celtic humans and fled to the raths of the fey, increasing the gulf between them and their fellow Britons too since there was always an uneasy truce with the fey.

She enjoyed herself no end and met Percy beaming afterwards.

"That looks like a good paper!" he laughed.

"Well I enjoyed it anyway" said Harmony. "Let's go and get married."

"What and deny my mum the chance to run it? I wouldn't DARE!" said Percy, kissing her.

He was well kissed back.

Harmony had finished her exams; and so she was, in her own mind, no longer a schoolgirl.

At least, in private!

In the words of Sebastian Cantripp,

"The web flew out and floated wide, the OWLs have come upon me cried the Lady of Shallot!"

"You're a nut, Seb" said Irmi.

"He's insane" said his sister Gloria crossly "Who's this Lady of Shallot?"

"Oh it's obviously some allegorical reference to all onions and members of the Allium family of plants" giggled Elsie Blackwood.

"It's from the poem he had to do as an impot for Professor Malfoy for weaving Gloria's hair into a rat's nest during prep last week" said Irmi "Because this Lady of Shallot was sitting weaving and the original line is 'the doom has come upon me cried the Lady of Shallot'. It's a daft like poem but knitting with his sister's hair is a daft-like occupation."

"I don't see why she can't stick to Kipling and Shakespeare; I know all of them and don't have to look them up any more" grumbled Sebastian.

"Which is WHY she set you something you don't know, idiot!" said Irmi, equably. "TRY not to irritate your sister too much; she is on edge for the exams."

"So are we all" said Sebastian.

"Yes; but you are capable of doing on edge without making it worse for Gloria" said Irmi quietly "Because she is not so clever as you and feels it deeply that you, who are a year younger, have better class results and worry less about exams. It would be the act of a gentleman NOT to make things worse for her. The line was funny but let us now the subject change so that Gloria may not any longer be upset by remembering your silly prank."

"I guess it was mean of me" said Sebastian "Here, Glor, best of British huh? Potions first; we're all good at potions. Well nobody's BAD at potions even Deborah."

"You have the tact of an erumpant in a china shop Sebastian Cantripp" said Deborah's friend Evangeline.

"What have I said? I said she isn't bad at potions!" said Sebastian.

"It was the way you said it you oaf!" said Evangeline.

"Well sorry if it upset you Deb; I didn't mean it the way you heard it whatever way that was" said Sebastian.

The practical involved brewing the Confusing and Befuddlement Potion and a counter to it of their choice. This meant that Deborah brewed the wit-sharpening potion to counter it, Ruth Blaise picked the Memory potion and most other people picked one or other of them and added features of the other to counteract both confusing and befuddling aspects. People like Irmi, Sebastian and Elsie and Adrian Petrescu noted that by adding Jobberknoll feathers to the wit sharpening potion there was a symmetrical balance with the fwooper down used in the Confusing and Befuddlement draught. These four also wrote out Golapott's first law and added moonstone as a general balancer to the condition. Irmi added Cardomom and Sebastian added mint; Elsie added heartsease and Adrian doubled his ginger. There was no RIGHT answer to this question; any reasonable solution got a good mark and any additions to a combination of the two most likely potions to help were credited if reason for them was given and was valid.

The written exam presented a number of medical potions written to the half way stage with instructions to write up the rest. Golapott's first two laws came into other questions and a Chinese chomping cabbage had to be labelled. Ruth and Deborah were glad it was over; almost everyone else thought they had done fairly well, though Gloria worried that if it had seemed to have gone TOO well it could be that she had blown it.

Irmi hated post mortems; but she sighed and let Gloria compare notes. It gave Gloria a bit more confidence to find that, even if she had not written as much as Irmi, she was at least on the same lines.

Transfigurations featured a long essay on switching spells and a section of short answers on sundry principles and Irmi absently mentioned assimilative correlation by nomenclature and association because she was used to Jade talking about such things and was unaware that she had given a NEWT level answer to a couple of the questions. The practical ran on standard lines with the switching of two bottles – Irmi, Elsie, Sebastian, Adrian and Yukya Kalinka switched contents without shifting the bottles for extra marks – vanishing dirt from a bucket, summoning a handkerchief and turning a tortoise into a box.

Deborah's box left a turd on the desk and tried to wander off.

Emily Grant's box bit the examiner; and neither Evangeline's nor Ruth's boxes would open.

It was reckoned however that Ruth's switching of the examiner's rather prominent ears for the bottles was the best moment, though Ruth did not think so.

"You'll be fine Ruth" said Sebastian "You know all the theory; what you lost on the practical you'll more than make up for in the written."

"The trouble was" wailed Ruth "They were so like jug handles I was thinking about them in the context of something to contain liquid!"

"Hey, it'll be fine" said Elsie "I saw your hankie, you put lace on it; that'll catch you up some marks."

Her own had been of silk with a lace edging and monogram; Elsie was very good and knew that complexity won marks regardless of whether it was tasteful or not. Similarly Elsie's tortoise had become a handsome mahogany writing desk with inlay work and brass lock surround. Irmi's had been carved into a picture of an alpine chalet, Sebastian's had been a functional metal toolbox, with complex locking mechanism, Adrian's had been octagonal rosewood with mother of pearl inlay and with a velvet lining and Yukya surpassed them all with a simple glass box that had no hint of digestive organs about it.

Irmi had also got extra points for admitting to being an animagus and demonstrating her wolf form.

Charms required two longish essays rather than one very long besides the short answers; one on locomotor charms and one on cheering charms. Gloria, Evangeline and Deborah were the ones who were weak here and wrote with more hope than efficiency.

The practical of this was standard too.

Irmi was not so good at charms as she was with transfigurations but was pleased to have stopped all her teacups dancing and stack them though she was slower than she might have been; and her rat was a rather mustardy yellow not a clear bright colour. She did not even try to pour her levitating glass of water; but she knew she had done more than enough for a pass mark and might hope for an 'E'.

This was one class at which Emily Grant shone; she was taking most of the same classes as her friend Elsie in addition to the compulsory ones but did not expect anything like the same grades! She performed all the tasks with aplomb however, stacking her cups almost as soon as they had finished dancing and giving her rat a graduated shade of yellow to pale cream on his underbelly. She had also written full answers in the theory exam and was confident that she had one 'O' in the bag; and had high hopes too in DADA.

As this exam was next, Emily went into it brimming with confidence.

The written involved the definition of a dark creature and the descriptions of a list that were named; followed by the definition of a curse and the counters to various named curses and jinxes.

If Evangeline, Deborah and Ruth wrote less than the rest, it might be mentioned that they were not members of the MSHG.

The practical opened with dealing with a boggart. Emily's boggart was a dragon; but she forced herself to shout '_ridukulus!'_ and make it play quidditch.

Irmi's boggart was Prince Gerhardt; and in light of the way he had died at Jade's hands she was able to force the boggart into the new form of Bugs Bunny.

Nobody had any trouble with boggarts even the three less talented ones.

Deborah had to have her teeth returned to the proper size after the rest of the practical and both Evangeline and Ruth were a little singed.

Elsie, Emily, Irmi, Sebastian and Adrian gained extra marks for producing a corporeal patronus; and Gloria managed something wispy that might have been anything but was definitely a patronus of sorts.

Next was care of Magical beasts. Elsie and Sebastian shone here; the rest were largely indifferent, though they worked hard enough on their theory for Professor Fraser who was nice, even if his subject did not grab most of them.

Next year, David Fraser planned to teach care of domestic beasts rather than the general exam; frankly the need to know how to care for pets and flying horses would be more relevant to the specialists they were expecting than how to feed sick dragons. If someone with the talent of animal care arrived, then David might always teach such both classes. Although frankly such would do better at Hogwarts with two teachers for the two sides of the subject!

The class persevered on writing about various kinds of magical snake but only the two who were interested managed to list ashwinders, occapi, runespoors AND basilisks. Irmi thought it handy that as a Parselmouth she had taken more interest in snakes, but still forgot occamy!

The practical involved sorting knarls from hedgehogs, handling bowtruckles and de-doxifying a room. The last was easy with Professor Snape's clever spell and Jade's use of it in the Triwizard still in their memories and few had any problems.

Herbology was the last compulsory exam for the Prince Peak students. They had to re-pot a fanged geranium, collect bubotuber pus and prune shrivelfig.

Elsie was the only one who shone at Herbology though here Evangeline did come rather more into the fore. Anett Breuer had brought a little more enthusiasm to the class, but even she had to agree with Ellie that this class had, unfortunately, been largely born with brown thumbs and a density concerning compost use that only could be explained if they had manure between the ears.

As the written exam concentrated heavily on manures and mulches Anett despaired of even getting them all to pass; though nobody had been bitten by their fanged geranium, using Ellie's anecdote about how Professor Fraser had growled at his; and when Anett read that the next largest long question was about how to prune, when to prune and how much to prune various things she declared she was going to put her head in a snargaluff.

It could be one of the few times, she reflected, that the students were saved by impeccable techniques in the greenhouse and let down by their theory.

"Never mind" said Severus "I've had years where they all blow up cauldrons; it shouldn't happen like that, but it does. And another year will be brilliant. Do NOT let it put you off; you're off I know to look for school premises with Mort Bane next year while I employ his friend from the free school but look on it as a learning experience and about as bad as it can get. They'll scrape a pass; I've seen the answers they've written for you. Awful, but at least not God-awful."

"Thanks; I think that even makes it worse" quoted Anett with a weak grin!

She was hardly less glad than the students when THAT exam was over!

And then they would begin on the electives.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Arithmancy OWL involved Elsie, Sebastian and Irmi. Emily had the sense not to try to keep up with her friend on a subject that was a closed book to her; she knew when she was beat!

Irmi knew she was nowhere near as good as the other two and was taking Arithmancy basically because Jade considered it so important. She had asked Madam Granger if she should withdraw as she was so poor.

Hermione stared; then gave a rueful laugh.

"My dear Irmi, you are NOT poor!" she said "You compare yourself to the other two who are both natural arithmancers. By most people's standards you are very good; I'd rate you an 'E' grade student; scrabbling at the edges of 'O' if you get the right questions. You must not expect to keep up with Jade either, you know; Jade has lived in a school surrounded by academic high flyers since she was seven years old, and has absorbed rather a lot! You are taking eleven OWLs; and if I may say so, that is a remarkable achievement for a girl who has had no education up to the age of thirteen! You are tipped to do well in most of them too, so none of this nonsense! Besides, for academics like yourself, it's the NEWTs that count, not the OWLs. I don't see why you shouldn't run through any principles you have trouble over with Jade; sometimes, having another person's viewpoint can help. Coming blind to Arithmancy you have done well– remember Elsie has been too frail to do anything BUT sit and study theory; and Sebastian is just rather exceptional, pulling a year ahead too."

Irmi had been cheered up; and went into the exam with more optimism than she had felt for a while.

It was no real hardship for the most part.

There were the usual questions on numerology to determine the best marriage partners and when they should get married, which Irmi always thought particularly silly because love took no notice of numerology. There was a tricky equation to discover how many wizards should open a given space of wizarding space, sixty by twenty by six feet in size; an odd sort of height, being rather low, Irmi thought. She worked out the volume to seven hundred and twenty cubic feet.

There was probably something significant about it that Irmi could not for the life of her fathom; and worked patiently through the rest of the paper rather than waste time staring at the problem.

She went back to work out that six wizards could open it reasonably well in five minutes and asked Elsie and Sebastian after the exam was over.

"It was six factorial" said Sebastian "A competent chanter could do it alone if he chanted for six minutes."

"Providing he used a six line chant in iambic hexameter" said Elsie.

"Which means she has higher marks than me" said Sebastian "And SHE could chant it; as could you, Irm. Me, I think I'd struggle a little."

Ancient runes was the province of Elsie and Irmi too; and Emily struggled to follow the class, finding it harder than she had anticipated. Elsie was top of the small class.

The questions centred a lot on Nordic runes, and in particular the significance of the N-rune. There was also a passage to translate from Ogham; and a question that asked the class to compare and contrast the subtle nuances of the Norse 'galdr' a written runic spell that might be chanted and the Saxon 'galan' a sung or spoken charm; and their emphasis under the two cultures. Elsie, who was taking comparative magic, thought it a lovely question; and Irmi was glad that Jade chatted a lot about runes or she would have been further adrift. Emily bit her pen in half and gave up on that one!

Chanting involved the hour long chant to test voice and stamina and the six people taking it performed together. Elsie and Irmi arranged themselves opposite each other on the circle that they were chanting to exclude all slugs from to bolster their friends, being the two best chanters. Emily was poor at this too as was Evangeline; but with a surname like Chaunter and a presumed family tradition she felt she could not really NOT take the exam. Sebastian and Adrian were competent and had at least settled down after their voices had broken, something to be born in mind with late developing boys!

The written called for a definition of chanting and a comparison to charms and enchanting; and the matching of a list of curses to be broken with a list of poetic forms. Jade's comments that sometimes an offbeat sense of humour was more use than Arithmancy came in useful here! The last section involved writing a brief chant for a number of situations like setting up minor wards or breaking curses, with credit given for arithmantic notes and appropriate language of choice. Irmi knew fine well that Elsie was getting too involved with complexities beyond what was needed; and probably enjoying herself no end. That was Elsie.

Only Elsie and Sebastian were taking comparative magic. They had to pick an essay this year from a list of three. Elsie picked 'Pick three magical traditions and trace the importance of the spoken and written word within their spellcasting practices' as one that went well with ancient runes; Sebastian chose 'discuss the impact of shapeshifters on three different cultures'. There was also a short paper.

"And I don't feel I did justice to the essay" said Elsie "Because I ran out of time."

"And I wrote for so long I made a pig's ear of the short paper" said Sebastian ruefully. "I guess if we'd had proper classes for longer we'd have known more what was relevant; I hope Madam Devlin won't mind that we didn't show her up so good from that."

Ellie was delighted to be teaching comparative magic at all and knew her first few years would not give such good results. That was life!

Adrian, Evangeline, Ruth and Yukya took enchanting; Yukya declared it a breeze and the others seemed pleased too.

Divination was the only subject Emily was taking that Elsie was not; having opted for a soft option. As had Evangeline and Deborah, the other two candidates. It has to be said that they all made up any old rubbish for the dream interpretation section, Emily writing that dreaming of a house full of cats meant that it was time to buy a litter box; Evangeline declaring that it was a hint to move because your neighbours were batty and Deborah declaring that it meant you should lay off the tuna sandwiches so close to bedtime.

Sebastian and Adrian were the only two taking Geomancy and duly returned from the place to which they were taken, using ley lines without difficulty. They wrote assiduously in the theory section and Sebastian at least enjoyed it!

History was a larger class; Elsie, Emily, Adrian, Irmi and Deborah were involved, Deborah having thought it would be a soft option – she was wrong – and Emily to spend time with Elsie. Irmi enjoyed history; Professor Weasley encouraged debates on the reasons behind the actions of various figures in history. The exam was in two parts; a long essay question chosen from three, and a paper of short questions. Irmi wrote her essay on 'chart the changing relationship between wizards and muggles 1500-1700 with brief reference to the statute of secrecy' and wished that there might have been just one question on the more interesting pre medieval era.

She was taking muggle studies too, as were both Cantripps.

The exam consisted of a choice of four short essays from a choice of six; and Irmi chose 'consider the significance of magic and magical beings like werewolves in muggle literature'; 'explain why a computer is as necessary to a muggle as a wand is to a wizard'; 'explain (With Diagrams as appropriate) the use of electricity in a muggle home' and 'Discuss why muggles prefer not to know about the wizarding world.' She discarded 'Muggle customs are shaped by rituals surrounding the use of technology; expand'; and 'muggle belief in claims for non magical beauty products exceed the efficacy of the products; explain'.

And that was the end of the exams!

The three quidditch teams and the staff team celebrated the end of the exams with a knockabout round Robin match; which the staff won on a played three, won three basis, to nobody's surprise, though the first team was glad to announce it had been tighter than the previous game against the staff! The first team played three, won two; and the second team were beaten into the last place by a surprise victory for the third team when Liriope Hallow managed to grab the snitch within two minutes of the game starting!

By a previously arranged wager, the second team therefore waited on the other teams at an after-match high tea!

"It's a pretty good set of players you have" said Cenric "And I don't think you'll have any trouble creaming Beauxbatons if you challenge them. We – Hellibore's – played Beauxbatons the year before last and flew rings round them. I'd like to see you take on Durmstrang for that matter!"

Severus grinned.

"Now Jade's no longer seeker for them" he said.

"Durmstrang plays its teams against local professional teams" said Anett "For experience for the kids, and to give them a chance to be scouted; and for practice for the pro teams. If we have Viktor Krumm here teaching and there is a designated talent that is being covered in quidditch playing, why not do the same thing? It gives those who want to grow up to be pros more games, and helps out local teams also; and gives scouts the chance to see the talent you nurture."

Severus nodded.

"Not such a bad idea to consider; I'll discuss it with Viktor. Thanks Anett; we'll miss you next year, you know."

"Well, assuming this girl Valerie Burdock works out all right, I shall be teaching in the school Jade plans to set up, you know" said Anett "But if she finds teaching is not for her, then I shall return to you, Severus; I think if Ellie had to teach herbology again she'd have conniptions!"

"Too right I would!" said Ellie. "You are not too dismayed by the OWL class that it puts you off?"

"Oh, those who are good are very good….both of them" said Anett. "There are those coming up the school who do better; as Severus says, some years are just dunces at a particular subject. My own year in Durmstrang were hopeless, totally hopeless, at care of magical beasts; Señor Carcano threatened to feed us all to hippogriffs at one point if we couldn't remember one thing to differentiate different flying horses, or to remember how to separate Knarls from hedgehogs. Why, one of the boys in my class was actually bitten by a garden gnome – and how often does THAT happen?"

"Never heard of it myself" said David.

"Exactly!" said Anett.

The balmy days of summer had only one thing in store for the school before they broke up; the marking of end of year exams for everyone else. And the first hoped to be proved better than they had appeared at first.

And Vava and Hette let off steam as an end to the exams by setting up a booby trap on the door of the middle school common room with a detection spell tied to a dedicated water-summoning wand to spray anyone who walked in the door. Which, in the hot weather, nobody minded too much, and as the twins owned up they were duly jinxed on general principles and marked down as possible future marauders by the Muggle Marauders and the First Peak Marauders.

"And a shame it is there's three really suitable in the second and two in the first" said Peter "Because BaHH, Batty and Yrdl strike me as Marauders – and Yrdl's already blooded – and her sisters in the first."

"Roseli interfered to steal Sarah; to make up four in the second" said AHHa "And no reason the twins shouldn't be in cross year. They've done it at Hogwarts. I vote we hint to Yrdl that she involve her sisters in stuff a bit and see how they go."

"Practical suggestion" said Fred.

Meanwhile the staff produced grades; and Severus made an announcement on the final full day of school.

"The first have managed to achieve an average that equals that of last year's first as close as makes no odds" he said "Whilst failing to produce as high marks as a couple of the previous year achieved, they did not produce such low marks overall either. The second is still maintaining a high standard; as is the third. The fourth, I have to say, is a bit like the curate's egg; excellent in parts. Well, fourth, you have one more year to make those parts more excellent; in the meantime I hope everyone has a very happy holiday, and apart from your holiday assignments, forget school for a few weeks. As to the holiday assignments my advice is, get as many of them done as you can in the first week. I know some people who consider the train journey home a good place to start making notes to make writing easier! It also gives you an opportunity to collaborate a little bit and help each other out. Anyone who is writing their holiday assignments in the last week of the holidays deserves all the panic and frustration that they get; don't say I haven't warned you! Now, enjoy the feast, TRY to get some sleep tonight, and return refreshed and ready to surpass yourselves in September!"

He was given a rousing cheer. Severus always found speech making difficult; but he was a hero of the fight against Odessa as well as a quidditch player well worth watching; and a kindly if sometimes distant father figure to any who approached him in need!

The greater number of the children departed; the train taking them to Zurich where they would either be picked up by their parents or would make their way on the muggle rail networks across Europe.

And the train was on its way when the blood group felt someone in England bounce the killing curse!

Lydia wide-linked.

"Only Darryl's brother trying to kill him" she said laconically "Gorbers did a nice job of jinxing him, and we left him for Harry and Draco to pick up."

Severus sighed. Darryl WAS at risk from his family then; and his mother must be watched too. Though Severus frankly wondered if Jocasta Zabini was sufficiently aware of the real world outside of her own little fantasy world where everything revolved around her to even realise that Darryl's testimony to his childhood memories of her arranging the murder of the boy's father meant any danger to her liberty. That Blaise Zabini had realised meant that the whole story would now have to come out, whether Darryl wanted to inform on his mother or not. And if his brother had thrown the killing curse at him, perhaps Darryl might be more willing to do so.

He sighed.

"We'll stand by him, sir" said Victor, divining what made Severus look so concerned. Seagh nodded.

"Thank you" said Severus. "Yes; I think Darryl should transfer to Prince Peak after the holidays to do his NEWTs. Safer for him; and away from any publicity. And he's blood tied to his friends, so that won't be as hard."

Poor Darryl!

Darryl arrived in Prince Peak with Lydia, Mimi and Lilith and hurled himself on Severus.

Severus cuddled him; the boy needed a father right now. And as Darryl and Mimi seemed to be an item, who better to be his father than a future father-jn-law!

"You'll come to Prince Peak next year" said Severus "Away from publicity. Yes, I know, away from Mimi as well; like that's going to stop her using her skills of elf apparation from coming to see you! So long" he added sternly "As it does NOT affect your OWLs, young lady!"

"It'll affect them more worrying about them, dad" said Mimi. "I expect Draco and Harry are almost on their way here by the way; they want a statement."

"Darryl, you are going to have to tell them now" said Severus.

Darryl nodded.

"I already figured that out, sir. Will you be with me while they question me?"

"I will" said Severus "You're entitled to a parent figure of your choice. But they won't bite; they're your bloodkin, remember! And if you're frank with them as brothers, they'll decide whether to proceed or not."

"I hope they do" said Mimi "If she HAS killed that casually, how many others has she killed and how many MORE will she kill? With as much feeling as de-doxifying a room?"

Darryl shuddered.

"She was so…. It was unimportant to her!" he said.

The two Aurors duly arrived, and questioned Darryl about the reasons behind the attack on him; and the whole story tumbled out.

"Sounds like she'd be almost unfit to plead!" said Draco horrified "Well, lad, we'll see what we can do; if you ask me, she'll end up in a secure wing of St Mungo's, where she can preen and flounce and not hurt anyone."

"I don't want her to go to Azkaban" Darryl was crying "She IS my mum; and – oh, I don't know what I feel for her!"

"Hey, kid, you concentrate on being a good brother to Sev's assorted brats and on passing your NEWTs" said Harry "Let us worry about sorting out your brother – and your mother. We'll see if we can't open up the cases of some of her other husbands so you don't get dragged into it at all; we'll certainly try not to disturb your schoolwork. With your guardian's permission we'll use legilimensy to be able to swear we've checked what you told us. And then a written statement should be sufficient."

"Thank you" said Darryl.

With Darryl established as a member of the family, and Mimi to help him settle, Severus might give his attention to the werewolves under the draught of living death. Horace had finished testing all the potions and sent the doses out to him by a ministry courier who tried – unsuccessfully – to find out what it was needed for.

There was some chance of trouble; so Severus took Seagh, Krait, Sirri, Dione, Lydia, Jade and Wulf with him; and on consideration David and Erich too. They should easily be able to handle a group of disoriented and angry werewolves between them if anything went wrong.

"Can't we just cure them before we wake them up?" asked Dione.

"My love, the draught of living death precludes any other potion operating until such time as the antidote is given to wake them up" said Severus patiently. Dione sometimes still had the odd blind spot over potions.

"Oh, of course!" she got it immediately "And dependant on what has happened to them in the intervening period may affect the operation of the cure?"

"Precisely" said Severus. "We shall inject the cure into all of them first, before we give the Wiggenweld Potion; then bring them back one at a time. They will need to be reoriented. We will take them as they are to the er, wolfery and give them their cures and antidotes there. Then they may just be housed; or killed as need be."

"I'd as soon just leave the cured ones to their own devices in the castle rather than kill them; and take the ones that are ready to readjust to the Nachtigall's wolfery" said Krait. "They'd be no more threat to anyone then than any wizard. And only kill anyone who insists on attacking us."

Severus sighed.

"Well, we're all good at apparating…. I suppose you're right, love, as usual."

"It's a Malfoy bad habit" said Jade.

Hunnic and Walther with Fritti greeted the party as they apparated smoothly to the castle. They had set up a shelter using fallen stones from the ruin outside the castle itself.

"Ah, you look, much happier and healthier!" said Jade to the two ex criminals "Do you like working for Dad?"

"Very much, Fraulein" Said Hunnic "Walther and me are dead lucky."

She smiled warmly; it was nice to be able to rehabilitate people!

Hunnic led them inside and Severus saw what Walther had meant about it being creepy. Clothing varying from that of the middle ages to styles of only forty or fifty years ago adorned the still and silent bodies, who lay like bodies on a slab in a morgue save that they were mostly – in some respects at least – still alive.

One was a child; a little boy of about eleven.

"You did not mention one was a child" said Severus to his men. Walther and Hunnic exchanged a look.

"We didn't know it was relevant, boss" said Hunnic.

Severus sighed.

"Well, in time you will learn" he said "Anything out of the ordinary I like to know; all of these are males. I suppose I kind of expected some females. I should have asked for a demographic breakdown of the numbers – age and sex, rich or poor looking" he explained. "The child will need a different amount of dose you see; it becomes relevant. As in any variant from the average of body weight; and condition of health and indeed old age is also a factor."

"Sorry boss" said Walther.

"We'll know another time" said Hunnic. "We'll try to remember everything about anything we observe another time."

"Good; you'll learn fast, I'm sure" said Severus "Your speech marks you less as streetwise too."

"That Fritti learned us to talk better" said Walther "Said we'd be more use to you."

"You will" said Severus "And though I wasn't going to make an issue of it, to use your time whilst watching to improve any skills is good; and I'm pleased with you. Fritti has done a good job, but he could not have done without your hard work too."

"He learned us to apparate too" said Hunnic.

"Then I shall see about you having an apparating licence when the next tests are taken" said Severus. "I think I'll start with the child, though he's not the earliest; he's late Sixteenth Century by the looks of it."

"Well he ought at least to appreciate jokes about 'to sleep – perchance to dream; sleep that knits the ravell'd sleave of care' said Jade.

"Just leave Hamlet out of this" growled Severus. "AND Macbeth; pest, isn't referencing three films in killing Gerhardt enough without that you must drag two Shakespeare plays into one sentence?"

"It kind of went together" said Jade unrepentantly. "Shakespeare's such a hack you can sort of mix and match without anyone noticing."

Severus cuffed her with two fingers in the time-honoured fashion.

The small boy groaned and put his hand to his head as the Wiggenweld potion took effect; then arched and writhed as the werewolf cure took him, cycling briefly into wolf form and then back into panting and sweating human form.

"Rest easy, son, you've had a busy day" murmured Jade. Severus glared at her. Jade switched to late medieval High German; the boy's costume was rich enough to suggest he was an aristocrat.

"Prithee good youngling, art feeling more thyself?" asked Jade.

"Verily, mistress, I feel as though I have in sooth been pulled into an hundred pieces and restored!" said the youth. "But in other respects, 'tis good to be awake and to find that I have taken no harm of the potion. I pray you, where is my father?"

"I think" said Jade "'Tis meet for me to break unto thee the news that much time hath passed; and unless thy sire was also a werewolf, he has without doubt passed beyond the veil long since."

The boy's eyes widened.

"And yet, beyond a raging thirst and hunger, I feel only that I have slept a few hours; prithee Mistress, dost address me as inferior; art then of the nobility? I know not your style of dress."

"My name is Jade Von Luytens" said Jade "And I address thee as a child for art such; as might bring comfort in the realisation that all that thou hast known is changed and gone. Technically I hold title Baronin; but such is not of importance."

"Verily, I find it difficult" said the boy "I am Siegfried Von Eiche; my father is, or was Baron of these lands and holder of this castle. Art a descendant?"

"There isn't an easy way to tell you this" said Jade "For in sooth the castle hath fallen into disrepair most grievously for want of a castellan; and if you feel well enough I'm going to drop modern German into your brain because this is an awful strain."

The boy blinked slightly as Jade placed a hand on his brow and passed him knowledge of a less archaic tongue.

"Just how much time has passed, Baronin Von Luytens?" asked Siegfried.

"A little over four hundred years" said Jade.

He gasped.

"But – the risk of the draught of living death failing after so long!" he cried.

"Well YOU know your potions" said Jade approvingly.

"It is a field of study I found interesting; my father too explained to me what he planned to do, when first I was bitten; for he felt that one day, some clever potioneer might find a way to alleviate the condition."

"Yes, one has; MY father" Jade indicated Severus "Has developed a total cure; which took effect as you woke, causing the change, briefly, as the potion expelled the disease. My husband is one who volunteered to have the potion tested on him."

"A brave man to try a new potion; I honour him" said the boy gravely, trying to rise.

"Stay" said Jade "Here is a drink of water to assuage your thirst; your stomach might revolt against more at first. Presently you shall eat plain bread slowly. You have lost much muscle mass and you are malnourished and you must gain weight slowly for gorging will only make you sick. You are cured of lycanthropy; and if you have any scars we can remove them by chanting."

"My father is – was – I am sorry, I cannot get used to it… was a skilled chanter; I have learned a little to emulate him. He cured the cursed scars before giving me the potion."

Jade brightened.

"Someone trained before the skill died out? Excellent, there may be that you may teach us; for my father also revived a dead skill."

Siegfried stared.

"Dead? And you have revived it? My father has many books in his library….."

Severus turned to Hunnic and Walther.

"Go through the ruins – take care – and see if there is any library remaining; do not touch any books there but return and give me a situation report" he said.

"Boss" said Hunnic; Walther nodded, and they both exited.

"You are in charge, sir?" asked Siegfried of Severus.

"I am headmaster of a school which has opposed those who would set dementors and werewolves on children" said Severus "There is a lot to learn of what has happened; let it suffice for now that you are safe, and we have your welfare at our hearts. I will become your guardian, unless there is any here that you would consider in this role" he waved a hand at sleeping werewolves; one having the costume of a period similar to Siegfried's.

Siegfried scowled.

"THAT one is the one who bit me" he said "My ancestor persuaded several werewolves to take the potion and act as guards for the castle's time of dire need; it is said that they were glad of the chance to rest and not be pursued. They gave fealty for protection, you understand; this one had come to cause trouble, not knowing of those previous ones. My father approached him with an offer of the same arrangement to stop him ravaging the land and he changed to bite me to show his contempt. My father used the _homomorphous _ spell but not in time; then brought him back as a captive, and said he should be forced to serve. It is all in the records."

"Fritti" said Severus "Go to Von Frettchen and ask if there were any records that he has possession of that covers the history of the werewolves here; legilimens him to check he tells truth if he denies."

"Yes sir" said Fritti, apparating away.

"An elf that can use legilimensy?" gasped Siegfried.

"Many things have changed" said Severus "Goblins and free elves now carry wands in certain places and hold equality under the law; there are elves and goblins in the school where I teach. You will have to adjust to that and become used to it for I do not tolerate racism."

Siegfried blinked.

"I have ever been reared to the view that a nobleman takes all as he finds them" he said "I have been taught to treat goblins with respect, unless they give reason to behave otherwise. And the castle elves were reckoned to have more initiative than most; for my father always trusted them. The only time he beat me was when once I took out my frustration on an elf and hit her."

"I like the sound of your father" said Severus "He sounds a true gentleman. I am glad he has reared you to be the same. Things are very different to what you are used to; but if you are willing to learn, no man can do more."

"My father has often remarked that it is but fear of the numbers of goblins that made humans behave badly towards them" said Siegfried "And we had many excellent servants and tenants who were goblins. He believed too that it was wrong to make outcasts of werewolves; that they should be under care of such who had dungeons to confine them at full moon and otherwise to be no different to other folk. I think that this one however cared not to be treated as others; for he revelled in his ability to hurt. These three in labourer's costume, they were those of the estate that survived his attack and were thus given this option by my father. I think he hoped that a cure given forcibly one day might be punishment enough on the one who called himself Zahn."

"Then I think it is better that Zahn never wakes up" said Jade grimly "Dad, do you agree?"

"I do" said Severus "And I fear that as he would have to revive for me to give him a poison, I should perhaps just use the killing curse. Besides, it seems a shame to waste a dose of Wiggenweld when there are others more deserving."

"With just one, we can clear it by chanting and not be too exhausted; and put in a twist to hold him sleeping and just slow his heart until it stops" said Jade.

"If that is rediscovered chanting you have learned a very great deal!" said Siegfried in admiration.

"We are rather good" said Jade. "Lydia, you and me?"

Lydia nodded; and took up a place at the man's feet as Jade went to his head.

"You take my word for it?" Siegfried asked.

"You give your word of honour" said Jade "And I AM a very fine legilimens; your memories came spurting up so I could see them without even probing. I heard the jeering laugh he gave when he turned, in order to kill you; saw that he moved slightly so the nearest human to him in wolf form would be the child not the man; heard your father accuse him of various atrocities that he also laughed about. I have seen his like before. Zahn is a bad lot, but I had rather even so kill him without him really knowing save that he goes beyond the veil."

Severus made a face about his daughters taking the task.

"Krait and I can do it" he said.

"It is not like murder" said Jade "It is to protect others; even without being a werewolf he is going to try to harm. With those we just cured forcibly in wolf form, we did not know who was and who was not vicious. And all were young and might adapt. He is old; he will not learn reasonable behaviour any more than Fenrir Greyback would have done. And we do NOT want him upsetting Siegfried's vassals when THEY are revived; Lydia and I have no qualms."

The girls chanted; and gently, almost imperceptibly, the big werewolf died.

And his dead face still looked vicious.


	15. Chapter 15

_Somehow it seemed right to post both these chapters together__ as this is a short one too. _**  
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**Chapter 15**

"Herzog Von Frettchen knows of no records, Herr Snape" squeaked Fritti "And he was telling the truth; he said he searched the castle for documents but found nothing but decaying books in a library that he took into his own collection; and he has promised to restore them to the heir here."

Severus nodded, and turned to Walther and Hunnic.

"There's BEEN a library boss" said Walther "But all the books is gone. It was open to the sky."

"Thank you" said Severus "Well, Siegfried, if Von Frettchen has your father's books, that at least will be something for you; but I'm afraid otherwise you're heir to a pile of stones and that's about it. Your vassals here may as well work the land on a running estate; are they wizards or muggles?"

"They're only muggles, sir, but one still has a duty of care."

"Then they will be happier with a community of cured werewolves, some of whom are muggles too" said Severus. "An ex werewolf has many lands and he has given over one of his estates for their use. In time we shall see them educated to take their place in the community but for now at least they have a haven. Having knowledgeable farm hands will help. We shall revive them next."

One of the labourers did not survive the revival process; the other two were much shocked, but soothed by the presence of their overlord's son telling them to trust Herr Snape and let him arrange things.

The earliest werewolves were roused next; except of course the unfortunate one who had died of unconscious starvation.

They were, not unnaturally disoriented; and one sobbed quietly that he was blind. He was not the only one who could not see. One sat staring into thin air, his mind so badly damaged that he was unable to grasp what was going on; and one held his ears, screaming that every noise hurt.

Krait had 'gone unicorn' in preparation for just such eventualities; and each of the afflicted was given a sip of unicorn blood.

The result was, as always, immediate and miraculous.

"Herr Snape, excuse me asking, but where have you gained this?" asked Siegfried accusingly.

"My wife is a metamorphagus" said Severus "Capable of taking on the form of magical beasts; and she has donated this."

"You can also create it from blood freely given by chanting" said Jade "Done it."

"Though I doubt you could have done had you not, yourself, tried unicorn form and studied the blood yourself" said Severus absently "It's about the most tricky transformation there is and needs a lot of personal knowledge."

Jade grinned.

"Am I or am I not Triwizard champion?" she asked.

"That still occurs? You are VERY good Frau Baronin" said Siegfried with respect.

"Oh the Triwizard was recently revived too; there's been three in the current era" said Jade. "But the unicorn blood is not improperly obtained. Which is what you wanted to know."

The Medieval werewolves – who accounted for about half – were delighted to be cured. They had taken the risky option of the draught of living death in the hopes of being left in peace; to fight for their protector at need, and to hope in their secret hearts that one day attitudes would be more enlightened.

"We never in sooth, any of us, dared to hope for a full cure, good Master Snape" said one "You are without doubt the greatest potioneer in the world; and we all venerate you most fully."

"Then teach any offspring you have in the future to be tolerant of those less fortunate than themselves and to work hard to fulfil the potential you have had stripped from you" said Severus "We shall try to give education to those who had theirs interrupted."

"Good master, most of us be not of a class that had education" said the spokesman, a lean rangy man named Edwin of Cologne. "I was an apprentice, hoping soon to be journeyman, and meantime running errands for my master, who was a maker of wands. As I travelled one evening, with little thought for the state of the moon save that it was not a good night to delay for a little poaching, I was leaped upon by a werewolf; and were it not for other travellers who drove him off, should have been killed. My master tried to keep me on, being a kindly man; but the neighbours talked and he had to let me go or lose all his custom."

"A sad tale" said Severus "As I do not doubt all of you have sad tales. You, Edwin, I can find then a job for; my cousin virtually runs the manufacturing side of wands for England's top wand seller; you might continue your education in making wands and act as a shop assistant to Ollivander – the proprietor. Willow – my cousin – has been hoping for an assistant so she might spend more time with her children. That will please everyone!"

"Ar, Ollivander's of England has always been famed" said Edwin "There is still an Ollivander after all this time that is too long for me to fully comprehend?"

"He is the last; but if you prove worthy I think it not unlikely that he may ask you to take his name that the tradition continues" said Severus. "Very well, I think we shall take all these people now to the Nachtigalls; and return for the more recent. Siegfried, will you stay here as castellan to help us sort those who came after you, or would you like to go and take rest? If the latter I shall take you to our castle where the school is."

"I feel it should be my duty to remain; but I am very tired" said Siegfried "Though that most illogical seems when one considers I have slept for so long!"

"Your body is exhausted from the strains on it my poor child" said Severus "I will take you to the castle; you are just turned eleven? You have not been to school yet?"

"No sir; one went at fourteen. But I am not long turned er, four hundred and eleven."

Severus grinned.

"Well if you can retain a sense of humour, you'll do very well! You'll start school then in September; it is now July. There are two who live in or near the castle who will start with you, and the boy is also an ex werewolf. When you have rested and eaten again Wolfram and Birgitta shall make themselves known to you."

"You are very good sir" said Siegfried,

"I swore an oath to protect werewolves who do not want to be" said Severus simply "One of my own best friends, who I was at school with, was a werewolf; there was then no potion to allow him to retain some control at full moon, as was later invented. His best friends became animagi to go out with him and protect him; they formed a club called the marauders. There are marauders in my school and in others who are sworn to protect and serve; and I should not be surprised to see you invited to maraud one day."

Siegfried frowned.

"But the name – it implies banditry?"

Severus laughed.

"The name was chosen by small boys with a sense of the dramatic who wanted to have fun and mischief; and to see that their werewolf friend also had fun and got to have a childhood. Modern marauders get into mischief to hone their skills to fight any threat."

"Like those who send dementors and werewolves against children" said Siegfried.

"Exactly" said Severus "You'll learn more as we go along. You will find it hard; you have, essentially, a medieval outlook. But allowances will be made. And you will choose if you want the school to know about your long sleep or not."

Siegfried considered.

"Methinks a school you run, sir, will have pupils inclined to look upon it as a challenge to help me overcome difficulties, not be a point on which to try to torment me. I should like them to know; that if I am not conversant and cognisant with something that should be obvious they will then know I am not perverse in my lack of understanding."

"Thus then it will be" said Severus "Sirri will take you to the castle; she is my second wife and you will give her respect due to that and her position of castle chatelaine."

"It is common in this era to have more than one wife?" asked Siegfried.

"No son; that I have three is frowned on by some. I don't really care" said Severus "As all parties within the arrangement are happy, it is nobody else's business."

"So long as the ladies are happy, no man should interfere" said Siegfried gravely and chivalrously, bowing from the waist at Sirri from his sitting position.

Sirri whisked him away to bed and fed him cocoa with a spoonful of complan mixed in it and left him to sleep it off, whereupon she brought him soft boiled egg and toast and jam.

Sirri liked having someone to mother and spoil a little.

Severus wakened the other werewolves one or two at a time; and found only one ready to bewail his loss of lycanthropy and that only because he did not know any other profession then as an enforcer with unusual powers. Most were poor creatures from the first batch; being werewolves in a world torn apart by religious war, the thirty years war surrounding the reformation and counter reformation in Europe, they had had every man's hand against them, even more than normal wizards. Where heresy was bad, witchcraft was worse and werewolves were the worst of all, they had, for the most part, come to this castle where rumour had it that the family was kindly to werewolves. The draught of living death may not have been what they had hoped for; but it was a better choice than trying to survive in a world where muggles were turned into predators too for being as desperate as any.

It had been, of course, the religious wars and the collapse of any tolerance towards those who were different that had lead to the statute of secrecy in the latter part of the seventeenth century, 1692. This had heralded what the muggles called the 'Age of Reason' where nobody who counted believed in magic any longer and science and technology were pursued with vigour.

After this bewildered group had been sent on their way, assured of protection and employment, Severus turned to the seven foot giant of a young man.

He came round, cycled through the change and back to human, and sat up with a start.

"It's all right" said Severus "There is no emergency; merely that it was time to revive you all now a cure has been found for lycanthropy. You are cured."

"I am cured? Thank God!" said the young man "I may then return to my regiment?"

"Ah…. There is a slight catch" said Severus.

"I think there always is with you wizards" said the young man resentfully.

"Not the fault of wizards, as such" said Severus "But a question of the inexorable march of time; you have slept near on three hundred years if I have your costume correctly; I know little of muggle garb such as you wear. The year is 2006."

"The world did not end on the millenium? So much for almanacs!" said the man. "Then – tell me, did Frederick the Great's drive to breed a tall army succeed?"

"No" said Severus "He did not understand that when two people of exceptional characteristic have offspring, nature tends towards a norm in most cases. Had he continued over five or six generations, he and his successors, something might have come of it. But he did not understand the laws of heritance that muggles – you are a muggle? – have since discovered. What is your name?"

"Peter Schmidt; a plain name but it suits me" said Schmidt.

"I am Severus Snape; and I will advise you to go with others who have been revived to a place where you may learn about how the world has changed; and ultimately retrain for a career, since you are young. If you wish to return to the muggle community you will need papers; nobody exists in the muggle world without papers and records of when they were born, to whom, where, what school they attended, who takes care of their teeth, what number they have been assigned for a work permit, what number they have been assigned to claim medical care and so on. You may find staying in the wizarding world with other muggle ex werewolves less stressful. There are, after all, more opportunities these days, for muggles within the wizarding world."

Peter Schmidt stared.

"It sounds most unpleasant!" he said "Why do people stand for it?"

Severus shrugged.

"One might as well ask, why did you stand for having to fetch water from a pump perhaps shared by several families" he said "It is what you are used to and what you grew up with; and so you do not question. Muggles today sigh over paperwork and put up with it. It is impossible to live without papers. If you want to be part of a modern muggle community, papers will be made out for you; wizards are very good at forgeries. If not, you need not bother. You will have all the time you need to make up your mind. How came you to be a werewolf?"

"I had gone on leave; the King did not like us going once he had collected his outsize soldiers but he could not really detain us. I had been to see my mother and as I walked back through the forest, this thing jumped on me and mauled me. I managed to shoot it; and though it did not seem badly hurt it backed off. I had no more ball but I loaded the musket with my ring, which was pewter. I fired again, and this time it was dead. I was bleeding badly but I patched myself up, and returned to the palace, and recounted my experiences and my friends teased me that I had been attacked by a werewolf. Which I did not at that time for a moment believe."

"The pewter in the ring contained enough silver then to counteract the magical protection of lycanthropy" said Severus.

"So I understand – now" said Schmidt. "The next thing I know is that full moon has come round again; I feel a little queer; and when I come to myself hours later, I alone am alive, tasting blood in my mouth and my companions have been ripped to shreds. I realised that I had done this; and fled in horror. Next full moon I feel the strangeness; and then in pain I am forced back into human form by a man in a robe with a wand – a wizard. I beg him to help me; and he brings me to this castle. So here I am. A killer of my friends but wanting desperately to live."

"For what it's worth" said Severus "By killing a wizarding werewolf, it is possible you saved more lives than you took. And for knowing the secret of firearms and how to use silver bullets, you will probably get a job as bodyguard in a wizarding family, if that suits you."

Schmidt brightened.

"Aye, sir, that suits me grand" he said.

Severus reflected that the man might also get a part time job in the muggle world as an adviser to re-enactors and producers of historical drama and documentary on costume of the Prussian Army of the period. That however would only confuse the poor fellow for now.

The rest came in dribs and drabs over the intervening centuries, mostly poor folk who took the opportunity not to be outcasts with humble gratitude. The most recent was a wizard of the nineteen sixties.

"I was fleeing from Fenrir Greyback, pops" he said "I had no desire to be some wand fodder for this English Grindelwald type, y'know daddio?"

"I quite appreciate the sentiments" said Severus dryly. "Don't call me daddio. Not only was I not born when you went to sleep, but also it's just sufficiently out of date to make you sound really er, square. Besides, I was involved in killing Fenrir and his wand fodder and our er, English Grindelwald – as well as YOUR successor to him."

"Sheesh, sorry I'm sure!" said the hippy wizard.

Severus took him, as part of the last batch to Friedolf Nachtigall's place, together with the mild-mannered late Victorian schoolmaster, who would be invaluable in basic teaching, the pre-unification white hound handler for nogtail-control and the buck-teethed farm boy.

Well, they would catch up what had happened sooner or later from the modern era ex-werewolves; who had themselves, for the most part, had to have the world of politics explained to them, for having been confined in the compound. The medieval wizards would find it hardest in some respects; not being able to claim their status as wizards any longer openly. Still, at least they were now free from what had been even then the stigma of being werewolves; and coming from a time when alchemy and potioneering marched almost hand in hand and there was hope for a brighter future, they might at that even adapt better than the poor sods from the seventeenth century and all its miseries.

Severus and his team returned to the castle of Prince Peak to find Birgitta and Wolfram showing Siegfried around with help from those residents now in the school and Tarquin and Sevvy. Two months would make a lot of difference to Siegfried's emaciated frame; though he must be treated as delicate probably for the year round. Well, the school was no stranger to delicate children!

Severus had only to write to Horace Slughorn thanking him for his co-operation, and letting him know that the outcome had been, by and large, successful. It was only polite after all! And perhaps a small personal note to all those who had taken part in the NEWT thanking them for their care that saved the lives of those who had been forgotten about for centuries and only recently discovered in a ruined castle on the continent. There was no need to be too specific; but a little more information, and thanks, were owed to the young potioneers.

And letters to both Señor Carcano and Hagrid too.

And then he had to be in England for the big ceremony.

That would be challenging; but the blood group were powerful; and Severus had little doubt that Albus had the willpower to give life to the poor child ghost, driven to suicide by his parents for being magical.

And it would be on the anniversary of his death; that would be a very powerful arithmantic time!

And that would hopefully end a very busy year; and maybe next year would be a little less frenetic!

**Finis**

**Now I'm anticipating a very busy couple of weeks in Real Life so I am taking a week at least off posting - sorry about that but I'll try to be back as soon as things quiet down.  
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